A Year to Remember
by Katsuki Shizenno
Summary: When Kakuzu, Hidan and Sasori suddenly find themselves in modern-day Tokyo battling evil witches and the perils of regular life what are they to do? Plus Hidan's got a secret. When Kakuzu and Sasori pry it out of him they're shocked. More 14 than M.
1. Chapter 1

Chapter 1: A Witch and A One-way Ticket To Modern Tokyo?!

_**I do no own Naruto**_

Hi, I'm Katsuki Umemi Shizenno and I'm going to tell you a story about my three Akatsuki friends Kakuzu, Hidan and Sasori .

It all began on a cool fall evening. It was very cloudy in lands around Konohagakure. It was wide and open with nothing but grass allowing the breeze to roll across the land with it's icy chill. Pein had sent Kakuzu, Hidan and Sasori on a mission. They were to retrieve some special documents from a small town.

"Is it just me or is today ridiculously gloomy?" Hidan asked. "And cold."

"Quit complaining, Hidan," Kakuzu growled.

"Shut up!"

Kakuzu chuckled at what Hidan had said.

"Why you little…!" Hidan started but Sasori clasped his hand over his mouth.

"Come on guys," Sasori said.

He said it nicely but his eyes flashed with apparent annoyance.

Kakuzu merely began walking again and Hidan growled but then let it go.

So they continued toward the town. A couple of miles away from the town the wind picked up to a heavy gust.

"Where'd this wind come from?" Sasori questioned.

"I have no id--" Kakuzu stopped short.

A small light was flashing in front of them. It grew and grew until a witch appeared.

"What the--" Hidan started. "Kakuzu?"

"Don't ask me," Kakuzu said.

He turned to the witch girl.

"Who are you?" he asked.

The witch girl laughed and then said, "You'll know soon enough. You'll know all the secrets!"

Then she shot them with a blast and everything went black.

Hidan, Kakuzu and Sasori awoke in some bushes.

"Where are we?" Kakuzu groaned.

"Beats me," Hidan replied.

"Hey, c'mon," Sasori said. "Let's see."

They peeped their heads out the bushes and as soon as they saw where they were a simultaneous, "oh no" was uttered.

"How'd we get here?" Hidan asked.

"I don't know," Kakuzu replied.

They were in modern-day Tokyo. They said "oh no" because the remembered the trip I'd taken them on once before.

"What do we do?" Hidan asked.

"I know," Sasori replied.

"Are we in trouble?"

"I know. Um, Kakuzu are you even listening?"

"We need to get my car," Kakuzu replied.

"What?" Sasori asked.

"First we get my car where I hid it down at the wharf. Then we go shopping for some clothes get a hotel and call Leader-sama with the cells Katsu-chan gave us."

Hidan and Sasori stood there staring for a moment.

"How do you think so fast?" Hidan asked.

Kakuzu chuckled and they proceeded with their plan. They took the subway down to the wharf and got Kakuzu's car which he was glad was in good shape. Next they drove downtown to the clothing shops. Kakuzu booked a hotel over the phone and they were dressed rather nicely. In a short sentence, Kakuzu's plan went perfectly. By the time they were done it was night so they headed off to the hotel.

"Wow," Hidan said when they entered their room. "You actually put aside enough money to get a decent hotel."

"Shut up or you're sleeping in the car."

"Whatever," Hidan groaned.

So they went to bed. They'd call Pein tomorrow. But how would it go?

**_A/N: You'll find out about the trip to Tokyo another time._**


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2: Bad Luck, Odd Behavior…And More Witches?

**_I do not own Naruto._**

The next morning Kakuzu called Pein and sadly enough Pein said he'd have to call them back on that one.

Sasori said he wanted to go to the wooded park nearby.

Kakuzu and Hidan agreed so they set off.

Sasori was working on his puppet on one of the park benches.

"Why are you working on your puppet?" Hidan asked.

"Habit," Sasori replied.

"Heh."

Suddenly Kakuzu's phone rang.

He answered it and Sasori and Hidan stared eagerly.

After Kakuzu hung up he growled and muttered a curse.

"That can't be good," Sasori said.

"It could take months," Kakuzu replied. "Who knows."

Sasori and Hidan groaned.

"How did this happen?" Hidan asked.

Suddenly a laugh pierced the silence.

It was the witch girl from before.

"Take this boys!" she laughed.

She hurled a ball of light at them, her amber eyes flashing.

Hidan automatically went to attack her and began swinging his scythe at her laughing manically.

Kakuzu and Sasori followed behind attacking the girl.

Kakuzu swung his fist at her but she dodged so he hit a tree.

The entire tree fell.

The witch girl stared at horror.

"Nya!" She exclaimed. "Oh no, I'm gonna need more power. Um, I'll be back!"

With that she flew off.

"Was it just me or was she kind of ditzy?" Hidan asked.

Kakuzu and Sasori nodded.

These witch attacks continued. Every moment they had alone was filled with attacks. At the park, in empty rooms, wherever. Odd enough, every time Hidan became less and less active to the point where he even dodged an attack instead of attempting to block it with his scythe.

He began to seem withdrawn.

Kakuzu, being Hidan's partner, noticed this and wondered.

Why was he acting so odd?

_**A/N: I forgot to say, this is a NON-yaoi KakuHida piece, BTW.**_

**_Hope you like it._**


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3: Revelations

**_I do not own Naruto_**

**_Warning: This chapter is a true oddity. Read at your own risk. Some OOC._**

Soon Kakuzu and Sasori decided they needed to get an apartment if they were going to be there so long. One day at the hotel in the diner Sasori decided to go to the store for Kakuzu and to get some apartment guides. Kakuzu decided to use this time find out what was wrong with Hidan. They were riding in the elevator and Hidan was completely quiet.

"Hey, Hidan," Kakuzu said.

"Hey," Hidan replied.

"What's going on?"

"Nothing."

Kakuzu poked him in the arm. He did this continuously waiting for him to snap. After all he hadn't yelled, cursed or said much of anything lately.

"Would you please stop," Hidan said as they exited the elevator.

Hidan didn't snap and Kakuzu knew something was wrong.

"Okay," Kakuzu said. "What's wrong with you?"

"What?" Hidan asked.

"You've been very quiet recently. You even stopped fighting a lot…not to mention cursing, but I don't mind that part."

"Nothing's wrong. I just don't feel like it."

He stepped into the room.

Kakuzu groaned.

He shut the door and made Hidan sit on the bed.

"If nothing's wrong than stop doing this," Kakuzu said sitting on the bed next to him. "It's annoying."

"Um…" Hidan started.

"Just give me an honest answer," Kakuzu groaned annoyed, flashing his oddly colored eyes.

Hidan just sat there for a moment and looked as if he was about to say something but then he began to cry.

Kakuzu just stared, wide-eyed, in absolute shock.

Hidan was _crying_?

"I-I'm s-sorry," Hidan sobbed. "I j-just…"

Kakuzu put his hands on Hidan's shoulders.

"Hidan," Kakuzu said. "What is it? Stop crying. You're starting to make me worry."

"I'm sorry," Hidan said again.

"What is it, Hidan?"

Hidan uttered something inaudible.

"What?" Kakuzu questioned.

He said whatever it was, again, quietly.

"What?" Kakuzu repeated, now slightly annoyed.

"I'm pregnant!" Hidan blurted out.

Kakuzu blinked in confusion.

"Now I'm really worried," he said. "You sound delirious."

"But, Kakuzu…" Hidan started.

"How is that even possible?"

"Kakuzu."

"That's in all ways impossible."

"Kakuzu!"

"What?!"

He grabbed Kakuzu's hand and put it against his stomach.

Kakuzu jerked back.

"Holy--!" Kakuzu started. "What the [*insert random curse*]! How did you--?! What did you do?!"

"Nothing!" Hidan yelled. "I mean, I don't know! I just don't, okay!"

Hidan buried his face in Kakuzu's chest.

He was trembling so Kakuzu could tell he'd begun crying again.

"Hidan…," Kakuzu said.

He smoothed Hidan's silver-colored hair.

"Hidan," Kakuzu repeated, more firmly this time, trying to get a reaction.

Just then Sasori entered.

He stopped short when he saw Hidan and Kakuzu.

"Is Hidan _crying_?" Sasori asked in disbelief.

So, Kakuzu explained to Sasori what had happened.

"How is this possible?" Sasori asked sitting on the bed next them. "And is he okay?"

He looked at Hidan who was still trembling slightly.

"Well I have a thought on what this is," Kakuzu said. "Reminds me of some mythology I've heard. On the other hand…"

He looked down at Hidan.

"Are you okay?" Kakuzu asked him.

Kakuzu had never thought he'd say that to Hidan. Moreover, he never thought he'd be _worried_ about him. Ever.

Hidan bit his lower lip, in what Kakuzu supposed was an attempt not to cry anymore, and nodded slowly.

"Well," Kakuzu said, thinking. "We need to go to the library."

"What?" Hidan asked, lifting his head slightly to look inquiringly at Kakuzu.

"Yeah, really, Kakuzu," Sasori said. "Why the library?"

"Easy," Kakuzu said. "As I said before we need to brush up on our mythology."

**_A/N: Don't ask for explanations yet. Wait through the chapters._**


	4. Chapter 4

_**I do not own Naruto.**_

Chapter 4: Magical Confusion

So the three of them set of to the library to look at the mythology section.

"Let me see," Kakuzu muttered looking around. "The mythology section. This way."

The librarian just stood there.

Once they were finally gone she said to herself, "Goths in the library? Or were they punk? Still none the less…Maybe I'm in the library too much, I mean I'm only 21."

Kakuzu was scanning the mythology section for something in particular and Sasori was helping him. Hidan was just standing on the aisle with them seeming preoccupied.

Kakuzu noticed this and stopped searching for a second and walked over to him.

"What are you doing?" he asked Hidan.

"Nothing," Hidan replied.

"No, I mean why are you over here with us?"

"What do you mean?"

Kakuzu had a sly facial expression.

"Well," he said. "Shouldn't you be in the…maternity section?"

Hidan slapped his hand over Kakuzu's mouth, or mask rather, and blushed bright red.

"Please stop," Hidan pleaded.

"Okay," Kakuzu said. "It's fine you know. You can't tell, if you even are pregnant."

"Kakuzu," Sasori said. "You shouldn't be playing with one of Hidan's discomforts…Regardless of if it's true or not."

"Why? He always tries to bother me."

"Well, yeah, but…Ugh. Just never mind."

After a while Kakuzu found the book and sat at a table. Sasori and Kakuzu were discussing things every so often. The were on one side of the table while Hidan was on the other side, looking on, wondering what they were saying.

"Are you serious!?" Sasori exclaimed, out of the blue.

"Sasori," Kakuzu said. "We are in the _library_ you know."

"Oops."

Hidan looked questioningly at them afraid to ask what.

"So, wait a moment," Sasori said. "Hidan really _is_ pregnant?"

"Technically, yes," Kakuzu replied.

"What?" Hidan asked in a half whisper.

Sasori and Kakuzu turned to look at Hidan who had a facial expression mixed between total fear and embarrassment.

"Well," Kakuzu said. "What you're feeling is technically pregnancy but--"

Suddenly, a bang cut Kakuzu off.

Hidan had his head in his hands, on the table.

"Wait a moment." Kakuzu said. "I wasn't even finished."

Hidan let out a quiet moan.

"Just let him finish, Hidan," Sasori coaxed.

Hidan lifted his head and looked at Kakuzu waiting for him to finish.

"It's a magical being called mahoko," Kakuzu explained. "It usually takes a human with formidable powers as a host until it's done growing and then…Do I really have to go there?"

"No," Sasori and Hidan replied hastily.

"Anyway, it's exactly the same as a regular pregnancy, meaning the same in everything including side effects but it's absolutely inconspicuous. Also it only last six months."

Another "bang" was heard when Hidan's head hit the table.

"Well, that obliviously didn't make you feel any better," Sasori said.

Hidan moaned again.

"I thought not," Sasori said.

He turned to Kakuzu.

"Kakuzu," he said.

"Yeah?" Kakuzu replied.

"If Hidan's a boy than how in the world can he give birth?"

Kakuzu exhaled hard.

"Well, it's actually kind of similar to regular childbirth," Kakuzu started. "You see--"

"On second thought," Sasori said. "Never mind it."

"Fine by me."

Later on that day, Kakuzu called Pein and Konan and told them about what was happening. After Pein and Konan finished being utterly shocked, they told Kakuzu to be Hidan protector for the mahoko may be valuable asset.

They were to see it through or else.

A/N: Okay, I know a lot of you are probably confused with Kakuzu's explanation since Hidan is a boy which makes it impossible. Fear not. Just wait 'til the story progresses and you'll find out. You'll have to wait a while though. I have a lot of unuploaded chapters. At least 10. Patience. Oh and I know "mahoko" is a lame name considering "maho" is 'magical' and "ko" is 'child.' Hey, I couln't come up with anything else. XP


	5. Chapter 5

_**I do not own Naruto but I DO own the character Genmaru.**_

Chapter 5: New Friendship and Adaptations

The next day Kakuzu, Sasori and Hidan were riding down the street. They were supposed to be finding an apartment.

"Kakuzu," Sasori said. "You can't choose some cheap apartment."

Kakuzu groaned.

"Kakuzu! Remember Hidan's condition. You don't have to make it expensive but--"

"I know!"

"Someone's in a bad mood."

"Be quiet."

"He's upset about his money," Hidan said quietly once they reached a red light.

Sasori and Kakuzu turned to look at Hidan who was sitting in the back seat.

"Well," Kakuzu said. "You finally said something."

Hidan shrugged and then gasped.

"Green light!" he exclaimed.

Kakuzu accelerated pushing Sasori and Hidan back into their seats.

"Don't get us into an accident, Kakuzu!" Sasori yelled. "Just think about Hidan."

"Just shut up, Sasori," Kakuzu groaned.

They visited many apartments where, ironically enough, Kakuzu found out that the apartments were too high priced and the sellers were swindlers.

They were at their last place.

A nice apartment with a lot of trees. A few sakura and ume too. A nice courtyard and a sturdy building. I looked pretty much perfect but Kakuzu was never easy to please.

"This had better be a good one," Kakuzu complained as he got out the car. "This is the last eligible place. All the others in Tokyo, according to the Internet, are not good or super expensive. And by that I mean way past what I'd call expensive."

Hidan suddenly reeled but Kakuzu caught him.

"Be more careful, Hidan," Kakuzu scolded.

"I-I'm sorry," Hidan said. "I just feel kind of…I think I'm gonna--"

Suddenly, Hidan threw up on Kakuzu.

Kakuzu immediately pushed him away and Sasori rushed to catch him.

"Why you little--!" Kakuzu growled.

He raised his fist to hit Hidan but Sasori stood in front of him.

"Stop, Kakuzu!" he yelled. "He can't help it, remember? Morning nausea? He didn't know."

Kakuzu lowered his fist.

"What are you talking about?" Hidan asked.

"Well," Sasori started. "You see, when you get pregnant you…We'll tell you later, okay?"

Hidan nodded.

"Maybe you should stay here," Kakuzu suggested, taking off his soiled jacket.

"Okay," Hidan replied.

"Call us if there are any problems," Sasori said. "Your cell is on right?"

Hidan nodded.

With this Sasori and Kakuzu left.

Hidan sat on some nearby grass.

He still felt kind of nauseous. He groaned to himself. He was confused and unhappy.

Suddenly, he heard the sound of footsteps. They came closer and closer.

Hidan looked up.

There was someone coming.

He saw Hidan and tried to stop but tripped and fell, missing Hidan completely but hitting the grass hard.

"Ow," the guy moaned.

"Are you okay?" Hidan asked.

"Yeah," the guy said.

He turned to look at Hidan and that's when Hidan noticed how odd the guy looked.

He had white hair with different colored streaks in it. He had bluish-grey eyes and more than one earring in each ear. His nails were painted white and he wore goth clothing.

"Gomen," the guy apologized. "I wasn't paying attention."

"That's okay," Hidan replied.

He was feeling sick again.

"Hey, are you okay?" the guy asked.

"Kind of," Hidan replied.

"You don't look okay. You look kind of pale."

"Ugh…I want to throw up again."

"Huh? Do you really? Wait, again?"

Hidan put his hand over his mouth.

"Uh oh," the guy said. "Um, stay there and if you need to throw up…Just try not to throw up."

The guy left and Hidan just sat there waiting, not knowing what else to do.

"Here," a voice said.

Hidan looked up. It was the guy again.

It probably hadn't been but five minutes.

That was fast.

The boy was holding out a cup.

Hidan looked at it questioningly.

"It's not poison," the guy laughed. "It's just some lemon seltzer water. It should calm your stomach."

Hidan took it and drank some.

The guy set next to him.

"I've haven't seen you before," the guy said. "Did you just move in?"

"I don't know yet," Hidan replied.

"Huh?"

"Rather my friends and I are looking at moving in."

"Oh. I'm Genmaru by the way. I'm 26 years old and most people either address me as goth or eccentric."

"I'm Hidan."

Genmaru smiled.

"Hidan-kun."

Hidan was surprised by this sudden familiarity Genmaru was expressing but he smiled back.

"I hope I see you around, Hidan-kun," Genmaru said turning to leave. "Bye."

"Um, yeah, see you," Hidan said.

"Hidan," a voice called.

Hidan turned.

It was Sasori and Kakuzu.

"Who was that?" Kakuzu asked.

"A guy who lives around here," Hidan replied.

"So I figure he gave you the drink."

"Yeah. His name's Genmaru."

"Well, how amusing. You made a new friend."

"Shut up, Kakuzu-tenee."

Kakuzu smiled.

After all, it was the first time Hidan had insulted him in at least a week.

"So how was it?" Hidan asked as they got into the car.

"It was perfect," Sasori replied. "If Kakuzu can get over the price."

"Too high," Kakuzu grumbled as they pulled off.

"It was only five dollars over our goal."

"Shut up."

Sasori rolled his eyes and Hidan just smiled.

**_A/N: Ume are plum blossoms and sakura are cherry blossoms. _**

**_Oh, and, how do you upload pics? If anyone knows, please PM me._**


	6. Chapter 6

_**I do not own Naruto but I DO own the characters Genmaru, Nobuyuki and Yumi**_

Chapter 5: Friends and New Beginnings

It was a bright day. Sasori had finally convinced Kakuzu to rent the apartment and they'd just moved in two days ago. Hidan hadn't seen Genmaru at all since that day. "C'mon, Hidan," Kakuzu said.

"What?" Hidan asked.

"We're going to the store."

So they headed off to the supermarket.

As they walked through the door Kakuzu grabbed Hidan's sleeve.

"What?" Hidan asked, annoyed.

"Where do you thing you're going?" Kakuzu asked.

"In the supermarket."

"I'm not sure if that's a good idea."

"Ha!"

"Well, I heard on the news--"

But Hidan already had started walking.

As he walked a runaway cart just barely missed him and a large ball almost hit him. Two little kids also almost knocked into him but he didn't notice.

He turned around puzzled and walked back.

"Are you guys coming?" he asked. "Why do you guys look like that?"

Sasori's mouth was wide open and Kakuzu had turned pale.

Kakuzu grabbed Hidan roughly and dragged him over two a bench in the front of the store.

"Sit," Kakuzu ordered, pushing Hidan down into the seat.

"But--" Hidan started.

"Look. You're pregnant and I'm your guardian and I'm not going to be responsible for miscarriage or…anything else."

"Okay, okay."

"Now stay put."

"Seriously, Hidan," Sasori said. "Stay here. And ca--"

"I know," Hidan said. "Call if I need anything."

"We'll be back," Kakuzu said. "And you had _better_ not have moved."

With this they left.

Hidan cursed.

"They treat me like dirt," Hidan muttered to himself. "Well it's for a good reason. But still…"

He cursed again.

He sat there wondering if he should call Kakuzu and ask him to buy something for him when he heard a familiar voice.

"Hidan-kun?" it said. "Is that you?"

Hidan turned to see Genmaru.

"Genmaru-san?" Hidan asked.

"You got it!" Genmaru said cheerily. "I thought it was you."

He sat down next to him.

"Where have you been?" Hidan asked, annoyed.

"What?" Genmaru questioned.

"You haven't been around the apartment lately."

"Oh, you moved in?"

"Yeah."

"Awesome!"

"You're weird."

Genmaru smiled.

"Yes." he said. "I know that. But if I wasn't I wouldn't be Genmaru would I?"

Hidan laughed.

They sat for a while talking in general, sometimes laughing, until Kakuzu and Sasori returned.

"Who are you talking to?" Kakuzu inquired.

"Oh, this is Genmaru-san," Hidan replied.

"Genmaru-_kun_," Genmaru corrected.

"Oh."

"You mean the one who gave you a drink?" Sasori asked.

"Yeah," Genmaru laughed. "That's me."

"I don't know how you could make a friend over some seltzer water," Kakuzu muttered.

"Are you upset again because you had to spend money?" Hidan teased.

"Shut up."

"Ha!"

Genmaru smiled.

"So you must be Sasori and Kakuzu," Genmaru said, pointed to them in the correct order.

"How'd you figure that one out?" Sasori questioned.

"Oh. Hidan kind of mentioned that him and Kakuzu didn't get along well so I took a guess."

Sasori laughed.

Kakuzu and Hidan blushed.

"I didn't say that!" Hidan said hastily.

"I know," Genmaru said. "But the point kind of came across while you were talking."

Hidan could tell Kakuzu was glaring at him even though he refused to look at his face.

"Genmaru-kun!" a voice called. "What are you doing?"

A guy seemingly about the same age as Genmaru was walking toward him with a teenaged boy. The boy had bluish-black hair and brown eyes. The teenaged boy had hair that was white and wavy with a light blue tent and he wore a red Nordstrom-style driver's cap with a blue rose . His eyes were green and he wore very odd clothes that seemed like a mix of goth and cute chic.

"Oh," the teen boy said. "Genmaru-chan's found a new friend."

"Genmaru-chan?" Hidan questioned.

"He has a habit of his to make everything sound cute," the other guy explained.

"Oh, these are my friends," Genmaru said. "Or roommates or…I don't know, whatever."

"I'm Nobuyuki," the oldest said. "Age 27. I'm a punk or goth, whatever you want. Who really cares."

"I'm Yumi," the teenaged boy said. "I'm 19 and I love fashion in general. All sorts of little funny fashions."

"In other words, he's eccentric," Nobuyuki interrupted.

"No I'm not, Nobu-onii-chan."

"I told you not to call me that."

"Can I ask you a question?" Sasori asked.

"Sure," Yumi replied.

"If you're a boy, why is your name Yumi?"

"Ask my parents."

"What?"

"I'm saying I actually don't know."

Sasori leaned over towards Hidan and Kakuzu.

"Reminds me of Deidara-kun," Sasori whispered.

"He's prettier than Dei-kun," Hidan laughed.

Sasori and Kakuzu rolled their eyes.

"Anyway, it's about time we leave," Nobuyuki said. "Goodbye Sasori, Hidan and Kakuzu."

He had addressed them all and correctly, too!

"How did you--?" Hidan started.

"Don't ask," Yumi said. "Too hard to explain."

So they said their good-byes and left.

"What did they mean see us around?" Kakuzu asked as they drove off.

"Didn't you know they live in the neighborhood?" Hidan asked.

"No. You never talk to me."

"Shut up, Kakuzu-baka."

**_A/N: Yes I know Yumi is kind of cutesy. He's supposed to be that way. _**

**_Now here I'm going to add some special notes that could answer most questions you could of had. I'll probably do another in later vchapters. (1) Genmaru's name is a pun. "Gen" means 'odd' or 'unusual' and "maru" is a suffix meaning 'male' so he's an 'odd male' relating to his eccentricy. (Nobuyuki is not a pun) Yumi's name relates to his cute side being a girl's name. (2) Kakuzu's car is a Mercedes. (3) Will there be any more OCs? YES! A lot! No all of them are permenant. Of course when a charcter leaves you may request a reappearance and I'll se what I can do. ~Katsuki Shizenno_**


	7. Chapter 7

_**I do not own Naruto but I DO own the characters Genmaru, Nobuyuki, Yumi, Hareta and Suzuki**_

Chapter 6: Dangerous Mall Trip?!

A few days later Hidan, Kakuzu and Sasori were with Nobuyuki, Yumi and Genmaru in the mall parking lot.

"You really didn't have to take us anywhere," Sasori said.

"We know," Genmaru said. "But you're probably our first real friends in a while."

"I want to see Hidan-chan in something hot!" Yumi exclaimed. "Maybe shirtless."

Hidan blushed a dark red.

Nobuyuki slapped him in the back of the neck.

"You think of the most sexually improper things, Yumi," Genmaru groaned.

"No I don't," Yumi replied.

Suddenly, they were all interrupted by the sound of a speeding car headed straight for Hidan. Kakuzu grabbed him out the was just in time but they both fell to the ground.

"Are you okay?" Kakuzu asked. "Did something happen when we fell."

"No," Hidan replied. "I'm okay, I think. Ouch!"

"Are you okay?" Genmaru asked.

Hidan looked at his arm.

Some glass had cut him a blood was running down his arm.

The speeding convertible had parked right in front of them in a parking space.

Two young woman stepped out.

One was an black girl with short brown hair and a black benie cap. Her eyes were deep brown and she wore punk clothes with fishnet and skulls all over. Her nails were painted midnight black. The other girl who was driving had long, jet black hair and grey eyes. She wore glasses and punk clothing similar to her friend.

They got out their car and began walking toward the mall entrance.

Kakuzu grabbed them.

"Where do you think you're going," he asked the two females.

"In the mall," the black girl said.

"You could've killed someone."

The girl with the glasses looked over to Hidan and the others.

She put her hands on her hips.

"So you're upset because your friend cut his arm?" she asked.

"No," Kakuzu replied.

"What you did was dangerous for everyone," Sasori added, walking over.

"Well excuse us for not being sensitive to your freaking problems," the other girl scoffed.

Kakuzu clenched his fist.

"Excuse me?" Sasori asked.

"You had better not start with us," the girl said.

"Yeah," her friend chimed in. "We don't mind a little more blood on our hands."

Kakuzu uttered a quiet groan.

Sasori put his hand on Kakuzu's shoulder and gave it a squeeze warning him not to snap.

"Look," Kakuzu growled. "You--"

"Wait!" the girl with the glasses said. "Let's take this inside."

She suddenly began dragging Kakuzu inside and the rest had nothing they could do but follow.

"Look," she said once they were inside. "I don't need this."

She pushed him aside and the two girls began walking.

"Why those little--" Kakuzu snarled.

"There you are!" a girl screamed.

"Oh no!" the two leaving girls gasped.

A punk girl came strutting down the mall. She had bluish-purple hair and wore eclectic goth clothes, miss-match striped stockings and high-heel, studded boots.

She pressed a button on her transmitter.

"They're here," she said.

Suddenly, what Kakuzu believed her gang appeared.

"Get 'em and those other guys too!" a guy shouted.

"Oh no!" Genmaru gasped.

They were in the wrong place at the wrong time.

The two girls swore and took off.

Kakuzu, Sasori and the rest had no choice but to run too.

Kakuzu made sure to follow the girls because it was their problem.

"Kakuzu, quit dragging me!" Hidan yelled.

Kakuzu had a firm grasp on his wrist so Hidan wouldn't get lost.

"Shut up, Hidan!" Kakuzu ordered. "When I get my hands on those two I'm going to break their necks!"

They followed the girls out a side branch of the mall.

The girls bumped into a girl at a video game stand knocking her to the ground but kept on running.

Sasori stopped.

"Are you okay?" he asked her.

"Yeah," she moaned. "I think so…Oh my gosh!"

Sasori turned to see a guy with a crowbar.

He was about to hit them.

He grabbed the girl and ran to catch up with the others.

The girls ran out a side exit.

"Quit following us!" the black girl shouted.

"As if!" Genmaru snarled.

"You got us into this mess so you're responsible," Kakuzu said.

"Alright, alright!" the girl said frustrated. "Go to the car and follow us."

The followed and jumped in their cars and sped off.

They drove down at least five streets being chased until they made a dangerous move down some alleys and lost them.

"Is everyone alright?" Kakuzu asked, now that they'd stopped.

"Yes," everyone replied.

"Wait a moment! Who is she."

"Sorry," Sasori apologized. "I saved her."

The girl had long, blonde hair and sapphire eyes. She wore some jeans and a white shirt with a hooded jacket that said "I'm an otaku."

She looked pretty scared.

"Who are you guys?" she asked getting out the car as was everyone else. "What just happened.

"It's okay now," Sasori said. "We won't hurt you."

"Yeah," Kakuzu said. "Not you…but those two girls."

Kakuzu walked over to them.

"Now we're lost!" he yelled at them.

"It's not our fault!" the girl with the glasses yelled back.

"Shut up!"

"Why you--"

"Stop!" Nobuyuki yelled. "Look let's just make a truce."

Kakuzu, and the girls stared at each other in anger but finally the black girl held out her hand.

"Fine," she said. "Truce."

Kakuzu shook her hand.

The glasses-wearing girl crossed her arms but muttered a, "Whatever."

Then Genmaru jumped to introductions and everyone followed.

"I'm Hareta," the black girl said. "27."

"I'm Suzuki," said the girl with the glasses. "I'm 26."

"I'm Sorami," said the blonde girl. "I am 20 years old."

"Well," Kakuzu said. "Now that that's over we need to figure out how to get back home."

_**A/N: A few more question answers! (1) "Suzuki" is a pun on the fact that Suzuki is a speedster and there is a motorcycle company called "Suzuki." (2) Don't worry about Hidan. I realize how I write it may sound like Kakuzu is impatient and rough with him but actually he's not and looks out for Hidan. Of course he never shows it so that's why it comes off as brash behavior. (3) Yes, Yumi has a secret side to him. **_


	8. Chapter 8

_**I do not own Naruto but I DO own the characters Genmaru, Nobuyuki, Yumi, Hareta, Suzuki and Meiko**_

Chapter 7: Nighttime Troubles

So our friends were stuck there. No one recognized their surroundings and Sorami was getting worried. It was a dark part of the city, especially that it was now night, with no street lights and a lot of back alleys. The only apartments were old and broken. It looked just like a place where murders took place on the movies.

"Man, what do we do?" Hidan complained. "I'm getting hungry."

"That makes sense," Kakuzu replied.

Hidan glared at Kakuzu knowing what he was relating to.

Suddenly they heard a high-pitched scream.

"Let go!" screamed a voice.

Our gang looked to the other side of the street to see a young woman being pulled down the sidewalk by a man.

"Just to a hotel for one night baby," he crooned.

"No!" she yelled.

Suddenly a fist knocked the man down.

Kakuzu had hit him.

Kakuzu grabbed the girl by the hand and led her towards his car.

"Please don't hurt me," she pleaded.

"It's okay," he told her. "I'm saving you."

Just then the man can running towards them.

"Give her back," the man yelled.

Just then Nobuyuki kicked him…you know where…and the man doubled over.

Then Kakuzu literally sent him flying.

"Are you okay?" Hareta asked the young woman they'd saved.

"Yeah," she replied.

The girl had ocean blue hair and bright, hot pink eyes. She wore jeans and a halter top. It was in the hobo-chic style.

The young woman looked around slowly.

"Um, I'm Meiko," she said. "Um I'm 23 years old and…oh! I like cake!"

Kakuzu looked at her puzzled.

"Where am I?" she asked.

"You don't know?" Hidan asked in disbelief.

"I forgot."

"What?"

"Where did I put my map."

She looked in her pockets.

"Here it is!" she said. "Um, we're here."

She pointed to a place on the map.

"Yes!" Hidan said. "Now we can get home."

Kakuzu nodded.

"Where do you two live?" Kakuzu asked Sorami and Meiko.

Sorami circled a place on the map.

"I don't have one," Meiko said.

"What?" Kakuzu asked.

"Well, you see I came to Tokyo a week ago and got a hotel. I was looking for a job and I found an ad. They told me to come here. Then it turned out to be a prostitution job…and the time for staying in the hotel I was in is done."

Everyone was silent for a moment wondering how she could really be this stupid.

"Can I…stay with you guys?" she asked shyly.

Kakuzu looked at her sardonically.

"I'm not a real prostitute," she said.

_I cannot believe this!_ Kakuzu said, inwardly.

"Fine," Kakuzu finally muttered.

"Yay!" Meiko cheered, clapping her hands.

"Fine then everyone. Let's go."

**_A/N: Meiko is the ditz of the group you've all been waiting for. Have fun._**

**_~Katsuki Shizenno_**


	9. Chapter 9

_**I do not own Naruto but I DO own the characters Genmaru, Nobuyuki, Yumi, Hareta, Suzuki, Sorami and Meiko**_

Chapter 8: Confidentials of the Heart

So at 9:00 p.m. they finally reached home.

"Kakuzu," Hidan called.

"Hmm?" Kakuzu replied.

"They followed us. And you forgot to take Sorami-san home."

"No I didn't. Sorami-san lives in this apartment complex."

"She does?"

"Yes."

"Oh…But they still followed us."

"Let's just get out. I'll handle it."

They all got out the car.

"Hareta-san, Suzuki-san," Kakuzu called.

"What?" they asked getting out of their convertible.

"Why'd you follow us?"

"We wanted to know where you lived," Hareta said.

Suddenly, Suzuki's stomach growled.

"You're hungry, aren't you?" Kakuzu asked.

They blushed.

"Well…" Suzuki said quietly.

"You can join us for dinner," Kakuzu said.

"Really?!" they asked.

"Kakuzu?" Hidan said puzzled. "This is quite a change of heart for you, eh?"

"Of course they can," Kakuzu said. "But it'll cost them."

Hidan smiled at the familiarity of his statement.

So they all went inside to have dinner.

They were sitting on the floor in a circle eating Chinese takeout.

"This had better not be bad for Hidan," Sasori whispered to Kakuzu. "You know how…how sensitive his _stomach_ is."

"I know," Kakuzu replied. "Since I'm forcing them to pay me it's not cheap take out."

"Good then."

He looked at Hidan who was sitting next to Kakuzu, slurping up some noodles.

"Because he was seemingly very hungry," Sasori finished.

Suddenly, Hidan leaned towards Kakuzu.

"Kakuzu," he whispered.

"What?" Kakuzu asked.

"I've got a _really_ bad craving for some rice pudding right now…do we have any?"

Kakuzu stared at him for a moment and finally answered, "Hold on."

"Get ready," Sasori whispered to Kakuzu as he walked by.

"What?" Kakuzu asked.

"Seems like he's starting to get cravings. This could be something."

Kakuzu sighed, walked into the kitchen and returned with a bowl of rice pudding and handed it to Hidan.

"So what do you do for a living, Hareta-san?" Genmaru asked.

"We don't," she answered.

"I don't understand what you mean."

"We're in a gang," Suzuki explained.

Everyone in the room was silent for a second and just stared.

"A gang?" Sasori asked.

"Yes," Suzuki replied.

"What made you do that?" Sasori asked.

"I don't know," Suzuki said flatly. "But who cares."

"Were you lonely?" Meiko asked.

"Ooh yeah," Sorami said. "It would be like that Hinaichigo in Rozen Maiden or that girl in that one episode of Aria the Animation."

Everyone paused for a moment again.

"No," Hareta answered.

"Well, what was it then?" Hidan asked eating another spoon of rice pudding. "Everybody's got a reason. Unless you're retarded. If you were, then--"

"If we talk will you shut the freak up?!"

Hidan nodded satisfied, eating yet another spoonful.

"I just got involved with some people after my dad and mom divorced," Hareta confessed. "He started taking out his anger on me so I started hanging out with gangs after I graduated from high-school. I never went to college. Soon after that I met Suzuki-chan."

"I started hanging out with gangs after I left Italy," Suzuki said. "I've wanted to race in Italy all my life so I moved there for a year. When I was rejected, I moved back to Japan. I was just so mad I started making trouble."

She banged the floor.

"Don't break anything or _you'll_ pay for it," Kakuzu ordered sternly.

"Sorry," Suzuki apologized.

"See," Hidan said. "That wasn't so bad. Even if it was kind of melodramatic."

He licked the spoon with his skilled tongue as he would his scythe.

"Wow," Hareta said in half-awe and half-disgust. "You licked that spoon in an…odd way."

"Um, yeah, well…," Hidan stuttered. "It's a habit…of mine."

Kakuzu rolled his eyes.

__

What an excuse.

"It is," he agreed. " Indeed it is a _habit _of his."

Everyone just stared inquiringly.

So, after they finished eating all the guest got up to leave.

"Hareta-san, Suzuki-san," Kakuzu called as they were leaving.

"What?" they asked, annoyed.

"If you ever want to blow off some steam, I'll help you out if you want. Here's my number."

He flicked a piece of paper at them.

They both stared at it for a second.

"Here," Hareta said, finally, putting a paper in his hand.

It was her number.

"If you want to call…" she said quietly, blushing slightly.

Kakuzu just smiled under his mask.

"Hareta-san," he said.

"Huh?" she asked.

"You forgot to pay."

"Jerk."

She placed some money in his hand.

"Sorami-san," Sasori said. "If you need us you know where we live. You can walk over anytime."

"Okay," she smiled.

"Kakuzu-san, Hidan-san," Sorami said.

"What?" they both asked at once.

"Can I ask you two a question?"

"I guess," Hidan answered.

"Um, when did you two start dating?"

Everyone had their mouth wide open.

"_What?!_" Hidan asked in disbelief.

"Well," Sorami said. "I figured you two were like in Loveless*.

"No," Kakuzu said firmly.

"It's okay. Don't deny it."

Then she started going on and on about Loveless's chapters and how she couldn't wait to read the next volume. Then she started describing some…_in depth _material.

Just then Hidan got a massive nosebleed*.

"Leave." Kakuzu ordered.

"But--" Sorami stuttered.

"Now."

"Okay then, see you!"

Sorami left but everyone else was still standing there.

"Great!" Suzuki finally groaned. "A yaoi fan girl!"

Everyone just stood for a second with their eyes wide open.

Now everyone went to their places and went to bed.

Hidan and Kakuzu had nightmares from Sorami's talking.

_**A/N: Loveless is a popular yaoi/shounen-ai manga. A nosebleed usually indicates sexual embarrasment.**_

_**Hope you enjoyed.**_

_**~Katsuki Shizenno**_


	10. Chapter 10

_**I do not own Naruto but I DO own the characters Genmaru, Nobuyuki, Yumi, Hareta, Suzuki, Sorami and Meiko**_

Chapter 9: The Eccentric Nerd and the Gothic Lolita

Over the next week Sorami, Meiko and even Suzuki and Hareta became closer with the others over the next week. Kakuzu gave Meiko a loan and she was able to rent an apartment. The ironic thing was she ended up being on the third floor…right above them.

Hidan had a lot of cravings recently and Kakuzu was getting annoyed.

Now, it was Friday afternoon at dinner.

"What happened to the spring rolls?" Kakuzu asked.

"Well," Hidan answered, blushing. "I kind of got a craving for something with rice noodles in it last night."

"Hidan."

"I can't help it."

"Well you could try."

"But I was hungry."

Suddenly, Kakuzu got an idea.

"Speaking of which, Hidan," Kakuzu said walking over to the sofa. "How are you two today?"

"Huh?" Hidan asked. "Who's us?"

"You and your baby of course."

Hidan blushed scarlet and automatically jumped up slapping his hand across Kakuzu mouth.

"Shh!" Hidan ordered. "Stop doing that."

Kakuzu just lowered Hidan's hand and just chuckled.

"I'm serious, Kakuzu!" Hidan yelled.

"Just relax," Kakuzu said. "I already told you, it's inconspicuous."

Hidan started yelling at Kakuzu as usual.

Sasori just laughed to himself.

Later that day Genmaru surprised everyone by coming over.

"Hey, guys," he said.

"Genmaru-kun?" Hidan asked. "What are you doing here?"

"Coming to get you."

"Eh?"

"We all thought we should take a night out in the city you know?"

"Um, now?"

"Yes."

"Uh…"

"You're coming anyway."

Now our friends headed out to a Tokyo club.

It was quite a nice place.

Kakuzu spotted some pool tables and pulled Hidan over.

"Kakuzu!" Hidan groaned. "What are you doing?"

"Getting money," Kakuzu replied. "I'm willing to bet half."

He sat down in front of a guy with dark green hair and rectangular glasses.

"How much do you bet?" the guy asked.

Kakuzu was about to bet when the guy cut him off.

"I'll warn you," he said. "I don't usually lose. Most people, unlike me use the wrong trajectory, not to mention the exerted force it is usually wrong changing the inertia, momentum and velocity in a way that it all fails."

"I bet 15,000 yen."

"15,000 yen!" Hidan exclaimed. "Kakuzu?!"

The guy snickered and adjusted his glasses.

"Watch and learn, Kakuzu-san," the he said.

He shot the ball knocking 6 of 8 balls into the holes.

Kakuzu laughed and knocked all the balls into the holes.

"What!?" the guy and Hidan both yelled at once. "How!?"

Kakuzu just crossed his arms proudly.

"You thought I'd lose?" he asked Hidan.

Hidan nodded.

"Impossible!" the guy yelled. "The trajectory was all wrong!"

Kakuzu just smiled.

"Good luck," he said.

"Luck doesn't exist," the guy retorted.

Meanwhile, Sasori was headed toward the dance floor when a girl peeping around the corner called him.

"Hello," she said.

"Um, hi?" Sasori said puzzled.

The girl was dressed in a gothic Lolita style dress and a large bow on the back of her head. Everything down to her gloves were black with white lace. She had indigo hair and green piercing eyes.

"Sit down," she said. "Let me check your aura."

"What?" Sasori asked.

"Sit."

She pushed him into a chair.

She stared into his eyes and nodded.

"Give me your hand," she instructed.

Sasori, quite annoyed, thrust out her hand.

She read his palm and nodded ant then sat down next to him.

"You seem to be lonely," she said. "Your past seems dark. But things are beginning to

So while Sasori was getting his palms read, Kakuzu was racking up the dough.

After their fun, Kakuzu and Hidan were about to head over to the bar where their friends were.

"Do you want to come?" Hidan asked Kakuzu's dejected opponent.

"Sure," the guy smiled.

So they went to the bar.

"Hey, guys!" Hidan called.

Suddenly, Genmaru jumped up and hugged him.

"Hidan-kun!" he cried.

"Wh-what's going on!" Hidan stuttered.

Nobuyuki and Yumi grabbed Genmaru off Hidan.

"Sorry," Nobuyuki apologized. "He's a heavy drinker."

"Yeah," Yumi chimed in. "He get's drunk all the time. How many bottles did you drink anyway?"

"Four," Genmaru replied groggily. "Uh oh!"

Suddenly, he ran off for the bathroom.

"Good," Yumi said. "After he get's it out of his system he'll be fine."

After Genmaru came back from the bathroom he was better and they sat down at a table to eat.

"Really sorry about that, Hidan-kun," Genmaru said.

"It's fine," Hidan smiled.

"So," Hareta said. "I noticed some new additions to our crew."

"We introduced ourselves but you guys never introduced them," Suzuki stated.

"Oh, yeah!" Sasori said.

He'd invited the fortune-teller girl over.

"This is Fuyumi-chan," he said. "She's a fortune-teller."

"Pleased to meet you all," Fuyumi smiled. "I'm 26 and I come to this club all the time telling fortunes and placing hexes. It's my living."

"So you got Little Miss Superstition over here," the guy who'd accompanied Hidan and Kakuzu said.

Fuyumi rolled her eyes.

"Wait," Hidan said. "We never actually asked your name."

The young man just smiled and adjusted his glasses.

"My name is Izuno," he said. "Pleased to make your acquaintance. I'm 28 years old and dream to become a great professor and inventor."

"With how you play pool you're halfway there," Kakuzu teased.

"You already won--three times--so cut the mocking and shut up."

"Stop moping."

"Sorry, Hidan," Sasori said.

"Why?" Hidan asked.

"I let Kakuzu drag you over to the pool tables so he could bet."

"It's okay. He even let me play some."

"Even though you sucked at first," Kakuzu added.

"You are so full of yourself," Hidan groaned.

"You did suck," Izuno agreed.

"Shut up," Hidan snarled, bearing his arm and putting his head in his hand.

"At least you didn't keep sucking," Kakuzu said with a laugh.

Hidan just groaned.

"So you see," Genmaru said. "This was fun, right?"

"Yeah," Sorami said. "I'd never gone to a club before. Friday nights I usually read The Last Uniform*."

Everyone stared.

"You do yuri and yaoi?" Hareta finally asked.

"Yep!" Sorami replied cheerily. "I'm a yaoi/yuri otaku!"

Everyone just groaned.

"How vile," Kakuzu said.

"Hidan-kun," Fuyumi called.

"Yes?" he replied.

"Can I read your palm? Sasori suggested."

"O-okay."

She did and looked at him with a quick nod.

"You seem to be waiting for something," she said. "Like, expecting new birth."

Hidan blushed and Kakuzu laughed inwardly.

"That sounds about right," Kakuzu said smiling at his partner.

Hidan felt like hiding.  
So everyone was about to leave and things where fine when the girl from the mall bust in.

"There you guys are!" she cried.

"Oh man," Suzuki said. "Run!"

Everyone took off out the back door. The girl meant business.

_**A/N: Next chapter and you would've met all the main OCs! Yay!**_

_**~Katsuki Shizenno**_


	11. Chapter 11

_**I do not own Naruto but I DO own the characters Genmaru, Nobuyuki, Yumi, Hareta, Suzuki, Sorami, Meiko, Akako, Kuromi and Tenko**_

Chapter 10: Exposed!

Our friends ran down the back alley.

"What does she want?" Kakuzu asked.

"We're kind of involved in a spat," Hareta replied.

"You know this girl," Izuno asked.

"Yeah. Pretty much."

Suddenly they came to a abandoned warehouse. They looked around.

The girl was gone.

"Hey!" a voice called.

They whipped around.

There were two girls standing there.

One had long, stringy, long jet-black hair. She wore orange-tinted shades and wore a long black skirt and long sleeve punk top. She was smoking a cigarette.

The other girl had hazel-colored, shoulder-length hair and had a mask over her mouth. She wore a long black skirt and a top with a skull on it. Her green eyes scanned Kakuzu and the others and from her covered mouth spewed a whole lot of profanity.

"What the [censored] are you [censored] doing on our territory she yelled!"

"Your territory?" Kakuzu asked.

"Yeah," the black haired girl said. "I'm Kuromi. Age 26."

"I'm Akako," the profaner girl said "Age 20."

"Oh no," Izuno gasped. "This is Akako and Kuromi, the famous yanki duo."

Suddenly, from behind them the girl from the mall appeared.

"Found you!"

"What the [censored]!," Akako spat. "Who the [censored] is she."

"[censored], I don't know," Kuromi said.

"Shut up," Kakuzu groaned.

"[censored], no!" Akako shouted.

Suddenly, the witch from before appeared.

"Oh no," Kakuzu groaned. "Not now of all times."

"Found ya!" the witch cheered.

She swooped down and tried to catch Hidan in her grasp but Kakuzu grabbed him just in time.

"Why are you attacking him?" Kakuzu asked. "Oh no. Because he's--Ugh! Great!"

"That's right!" she said.

She shot a blast of ice at Kakuzu and Hidan which they dodged.

The witch laughed as she shot ice all over barely missing everyone.

Then when they were about to be turned into living ice sculptures Kuromi shot at the witch.

She barely missed but got scared so disappeared crying.

"Kakuzu," Genmaru called.

"Yeah?" he asked.

"What just happened? Am I delirious or was that a witch."

"Well, why doesn't everyone come to our house for dinner."

Kakuzu looked at the three gang members they'd just met.

"All of you," he ended firmly.

So everyone left for the apartment and when they arrived Kakuzu told them the long story.

"So you want us to believe that you came from another world and that Hidan is pregnant," Izuno asked.

"Believe what you want," Kakuzu said. "But wasn't what you saw convincing enough."

Everyone except Izuno agreed.

"Impossible," Izuno said. "No law in science can explain this."

"Not everything can be explained by science," Fuyumi said. "Science can't explain how life began or how a person loves. Besides, Kakuzu-kun's explanation explains my reading of new birth."

"Bang!"

Hidan's head hit the table as before.

Kakuzu patted his back.

"You get embarrassed so easily, Hidan," he told him.

Hidan just moaned.

"I believe it," Genmaru said. "It _does_ explains why Hidan-kun's sick most of the time."

"Fine with me," Nobuyuki smiled.

"Yeah," Yumi cheered.

"I believe it," Sorami said.

"We expected that, Sorami-chan," Sasori said.

"Me too," Meiko agreed.

"I guess," Hareta said.

Suzuki nodded.

"We have no choice," Akako said. "Even if it sounds like [censored]."

Kuromi nodded.

"Fine," Izuno said, a sudden light flashing in his eyes. "This could be fun."

The girl from the mall just stood there.

"What about you no name?" Kakuzu asked.

"I'm not 'no name'!" she shouted. "My name is Tenko and I'm 20 years old. I'm part of a dangerous gang so I suggest you leave me alone."

"Do you believe us?"

"Yes. That gives me more of a reason to leave."

She started out.

"Wait!" Meiko called.

She ran over.

"Look at your leg!" Meiko cried. "It's bleeding."

"And?" Tenko asked.

"It might be bad."

She reached out to touch it.

"Get away from me!" she yelled and slapped Meiko's hand.

Meiko backed up to Kakuzu and grabbed his arm in fear.

"She's right, Tenko-chan," Sasori said. "It could get infected."

"She has a cut on her face too," Hidan said.

"Oh, she does."

"Get away!" Tenko yelled. "And don't call me Tenko-chan you retards!"

"We were just trying to help," Hidan said.

"So don't. I don't need it."

"Why you…"

Hidan got up ready to punch her.

"Hidan, don't," Kakuzu warned, grabbing him and pulling him down to his seat. "Remember your baby."

"But she's such a--," Hidan started.

"I know what she is."

"Fine."

Tenko growled and began to walk out when she tripped banging her head on the wall.

"Ouch!" she cried.

"Serves you right, [censored]," Akako said.

"Shut up!"

"You shut up!"

"Stop it," Sasori ordered.

He kneeled beside Tenko.

"Let me see," he said.

"I don't need your help!" Tenko snapped.

"We don't need to be charged with murder. We are not letting you out this house. You'll sleep here tonight."

Tenko cursed.

Now everyone left and Izuno and Fuyumi gave Kakuzu their phone number. Kakuzu forced Akako and Kuromi to give theirs' up. It would be an odd life from now on.

_**Kuromi and Akako's names are actually supposed to be slightly funny for Akako means "red child" and Kuromi means "beautiful black." Red and black. Hot and cold. XD Tenko is a pun because it means "angel child" and Tenko is no angel. A "yanki" is a Japanese thug such as Arisa Uotani is in Fruits Basket. There are pics of the OCs on my profile if you want to see. Thanks for reading.**_

_**~Katsuki Shizenno **_


	12. Chapter 12

_**I do not own Naruto but I DO own the characters Genmaru, Nobuyuki, Yumi, Hareta, Suzuki, Sorami, Meiko, Akako, Kuromi, Izuno, Fuyumi and Tenko**_

Chapter 11: Helpful Friends, Annoying Guest

The next day Kakuzu, Hidan, Sasori and Tenko sat on the grass in the courtyard. Kakuzu was trying to get Tenko to talk but she refused so he just gave up. Sasori was a yard away, fixing his puppets. Hidan soon fell asleep.

After a while Genmaru, Nobuyuki and Yumi showed up.

"Hey, guys," Genmaru said.

He leaned towards Kakuzu.

"How's life with Tenko-chan?" he whispered.

"It's hell," Kakuzu replied flatly.

Genmaru laughed.

"Aww," Yumi cooed. "Look. Hidan-chan looks so cute when his sleeping."

He touched Hidan cheek gently.

"Get away, Yumi-kun," Kakuzu ordered.

Yumi obeyed and went over to where Nobuyuki was standing, next to Tenko.

"So are you talking yet?" Nobuyuki asked Tenko.

"Buzz off!" Tenko snapped.

Kakuzu groaned.

Hidan rolled off his back onto his side. His silvery hair fell in his face. His hand seemed to move in a futile attempt to brush it off.

He was still asleep somehow.

Kakuzu chucked.

He was in a child-like position, but not totally curled up, his hand resting by his head.

He was _kind of_ cute while he was sleeping.

Kakuzu gently moved his hair out of his face.

Just then Sasori came over and sat next to Hidan.

"She's still not talking?" Sasori asked.

"No," Kakuzu replied.

"Oh! Hidan fell asleep."

He smiled when he looked at him resting and couldn't help but giggle.

He looked so pleased Kakuzu could practically see hearts and happy faces floating from his head.

"He can be cute," Kakuzu said. "Sometimes."

"Yes," Sasori agreed, smiling.

They turned back to Yumi who was still trying to get Tenko to talk.

Tenko was as tight-lipped as ever.

"You're really determined aren't you?" Yumi asked.

"Ugh!" she groaned. "How long is Hidan-kun going to keep sleeping?! Wake up, you idiot!"

Hidan jerked awake.

He rubbed his eyes.

"Did I fall asleep?" Hidan asked.

"[censored] yeah, you did," Tenko answered. "And those three perverts, Sasori-kun, Kakuzu-kun and Yumi-kun, were playing with your hair and stuff in your sleep."

"You guys did?"

"Sorry," Kakuzu apologized. "We couldn't help it."

"You were so cute," Yumi cooed.

"You kind of were," Sasori agreed.

Hidan blushed.

He jumped up, embarrassed and angry.

"Why you--!" Hidan yelled.

Kakuzu grabbed him and sat him down.

Hidan started to yell at him but he knew better in his condition.

"Retards," Tenko muttered.

"So now that you're finally talking…," Yumi said. "Let's start with where you came from."

Tenko was once again stubborn and tight-lipped.

"Now you can't talk?" Yumi asked.

Tenko refused to talk.

"Okay then," Yumi said slyly. "I'll make you talk."

He grabbed her.

Tenko grabbed his arms and flung him over her back.

"If you want to know something," Tenko said. "I've had a _lot_ of experience with boys."

Everyone look over, interested.

Just then Akako, Kuromi, Meiko, Sorami, Fuyumi and Izuno were arriving.

"That's right!" Tenko yelled. "But, experience, boys, whatever, it's my life so don't go poking around in it!"

"Experience?" Sorami asked.

"You sorry little [censored]!" Akako yelled.

"For real," Kuromi agreed, taking a drag from her cigarette.

"Well, who cares!" Tenko snapped. "My parents wouldn't want me back anyway…"

"Your parents?" Hidan asked.

"Never mind!"

"You know I agree with Akako-chan. You really are a [censored]."

"Listen, Tenko-chan," Fuyumi said. "We're trying to help."

"Let her go kill herself for all we care!" Hareta shouted.

"Shut up, Hareta-tenee!" Tenko shouted back.

Then they got into a verbal fight until Kakuzu shouted at them to stop.

"Fine," Hareta said. "I don't need this anyway."

"Afraid to fight me, huh?" Tenko asked. "And you know why? Because I'm a better person. Your father and your boyfriend won't even look at you twice now that they know who you are!"

"Shut up…"

"Why? Because you can't win? You are truly a sorry person."

"Just leave me alone."

Hareta's words were broken and tears streamed down her face.

"You don't even know me," she sobbed. "So just leave me alone!"

Hareta ran away crying.

"Wait!" Suzuki called, running after her. "Hareta-chan, please come back!"

Hidan couldn't restrain himself and gave Tenko a resounding slap.

"What is you problem!?" he asked.

"I am better," Tenko said, quietly. "No one ever notices…They don't know I exist…They never had time to know I existed!"

Then Tenko began to cry.

Kakuzu groaned.

"Not you too," he said.

Just then Suzuki came back with a calmer Hareta and sat down with them on the grass.

"Wait," Suzuki said. "She's crying now?"

"Tenko-chan," Hidan said. "We notice you…"

"What?" Tenko asked, turning to look at him.

"If someone like me, or Kakuzu--definitely Kakuzu--or any of us, could be noticed at all and find friends…then why can you?!"

Tenko stared at him for a moment.

Hidan kept a firm gaze on her, his arm crossed with assertiveness.

"I'm an idiot," Tenko finally said.

"What?" Hidan asked.

"Going to retards like you for help. How foolish…but yet…it made me smile for the first time in a while. Thank you."

Hidan smiled at her.

"You're welcome," he said.

"Hidan-kun?" she called.

"Yeah?"

"You have a nice smile."

"Thanks. Wait! Are you trying to sweet talk me?"

"No. Paranoid."

"I knew you couldn't be that nice."

_**A/N: Yes, Hidan has his moments. XD **_

**_Oh, and by now I realize the chapter numbers are off. It's too late to fix though so gomen._**

_**~Katsuki Shizenno **_


	13. Chapter 13

_**I do not own Naruto but I DO own the characters Genmaru, Nobuyuki, Yumi, Hareta, Suzuki, Sorami, Meiko, Akako, Kuromi, Izuno, Fuyumi and Tenko**_

Chapter 12: Interruptions and Curiosity

Now that Hidan had finally got Tenko to talk they started asking questions.

"So where do you live?" Meiko asked.

"Just wherever," Tenko replied. "Streets, abandoned houses, friends' houses, my ex-boyfriend's place…"

"So you need a place to stay?" Fuyumi asked.

"No, I'm cool."

"Are you su--"

Suddenly a blast hit the ground next to them.

"Would you just leave us alone?!" Kakuzu yelled.

"How'd you know it was me?" the witch girl asked.

"Who else would it be?"

"Oh, shut up!"

She hurled a blast at them.

Akako tried to shoot her but the witch put up a force field.

"What?!" Akako exclaimed.

"Hee, hee, I'm prepared~"

Akako cursed.

Kakuzu swung his fist at her.

He missed.

Hidan cursed.

"She's faster," he said.

The witch released a huge blast causing a huge billow of smoke to up-rise.

The witch cornered Hidan.

"Got you~!" she said in a singsong.

Hidan cursed again as usual.

This was a problem.

She raised her wand and so Hidan, having no choice, stabbed her with his spear he kept in his jacket just in case.

It went right through her heart.

She shrieked in pain as she sunk to the ground.

After a little while the smoke cleared.

Kakuzu and Sasori saw Hidan and ran over.

"Are you okay?" Sasori asked.

"Yeah," Hidan replied. "That was actually fun."

He gestured toward the dead witch.

"She's dead?" Sasori asked. "How'd you do that? You didn't use _that_ jutsu did you?"

"No," Hidan replied. "I can't do that in my condition. I'm not stupid. But still…"

He licked his spear.

"Ew," Hareta said. "So _that's_ what you mean by a habit."

"Sorry," Hidan said putting the spear down. "It's been a long time since of eaten someone else's blood."

"How interesting," Genmaru said, cocking his brow, amusedly.

"Can we go get a drink now?" Hidan asked. "I'm thirsty."

"Fine," Kakuzu said. "Let's go."

Suddenly, Hidan tripped but Izuno caught him.

Sasori breathed a sigh of relief.

"Thanks, Izuno-kun," Hidan said.

"No problem," Izuno said with a sly grin. "So you really are pregnant."

Hidan jumped back realizing he'd caught him in a strategic way so he could find out.

Nobuyuki clocked Izuno over the head.

"How cruel," he said.

"I was just satisfying my curiosity," Izuno smiled.

Nobuyuki rolled his eyes.

Hidan was blushing and kind of freaking out.

And, so off they went back to the apartment. But somewhere, far off in the darkness, a voice proclaimed, "It's not over yet."

_**A/N: Yeah, Izuno has another side to him. I also already know the witch had no name. I did that because the witch was not very significant to the story and there will be other enemies with much larger parts.**_


	14. Chapter 14

_**I do not own Naruto but I DO own the characters Genmaru, Nobuyuki, Yumi, Hareta, Suzuki, Sorami, Meiko, Akako, Kuromi, Izuno, Fuyumi and Tenko**_

Chapter 12: New Additions

After a while Kakuzu's money obsession kicked in and he started an over the internet financial help business kind of thing. (That's what Hidan calls it, anyway.) Kakuzu was making a lot of money from it.

Now, one day Sasori and Hidan returned from Meiko's apartment above them. She had needed Sasori's help to move a bookshelf and Hidan tagged along to watch--maybe his sadistic side again. Sasori and Hidan almost screamed aloud when they saw the lace clad beauty in their apartment.

Hidan and Sasori stood just gaping and the maid.

She had long, silky, black hair and deep aquamarine eyes.

"Uh, hi," she said.

"Kakuzu!" Hidan yelled.

Kakuzu walked into the room.

"What?" he asked annoyed.

"Who is _she_?!" Hidan demanded.

"Oh, her? She's our new maid."

"_What_!" Hidan and Sasori both blurted.

"Oh, c'mon," Kakuzu said. "You both know we need one."

"Huh?"

"Think about it. I have a internet business, Hidan's pregnant and Sasori is only one person."

Hidan just gaped at Kakuzu.

He threw a pillow at him. (It was the nearest thing.)

"Do you realize what you just said!" Hidan screamed.

"Relax," Kakuzu said flatly. "She already knows."

"What?!" Hidan and Sasori exclaimed again.

Kakuzu sighed.

"At least quit screaming," Kakuzu told them. "Now let's start over. This is our new maid, Erena."

"Pleased to meet you," Erena said.

"Again, what?!" Hidan and Sasori exclaimed for the final time.

So, Sasori, Kakuzu and Hidan sat down on the sofa and Erena brought tea.

"So someone else knows our secret?" Hidan complained.

"Two more."

Sasori and Hidan and stared at Kakuzu questioningly.

"My accountant," Kakuzu said.

"Accountant!" Hidan exclaimed.

"Yes."

"Oh my gosh, what is your deal?"

"Excuse me for trying to balance our money."

"Ugh."

Hidan sat back and rolled his temples.

"Do you need a massage, Hidan-sama?" Erena asked.

"No," Hidan muttered. "I need a better life."

"How melodramatic," Kakuzu said.

But Erena raised her eyebrows in amusement.

"Ah," she said. "Don't we all."

Hidan stared in disbelief.

A maid just said that?

Suddenly, everyone heard a knock on the door.

Sasori got up.

"No wait," Erena said. "Let me."

"No," Sasori said. "I'm not helpless."

Erena shrugged.

Sasori answered the door and almost screamed again.

The woman at the door had long, black, stringy hair and pale skin. Her eyes were surrounded by black mascara and black eyeliner. She wore black lipstick and a tight black dress with fishnet stockings and black high-heel shoes.

"Is Kakuzu-san here?" she asked.

"Um, yes," Sasori replied.

"Ah. Allow me to introduce myself. I am Taemi Kuroko. His accountant."

"O-okay. Uh, come on in."

"Hello," she said once she saw Kakuzu upon stepping in. "Nice to finally meet you."

"The feeling's mutual."

"Whoa!" Hidan yelled. "She looks like a freaking zombie."

"Hidan!" Kakuzu hissed.

"What? She does. She's perfect for you."

Kakuzu rolled his eyes.

"Well," Taemi said, in her deep, calm voice. "It's about time we--"

"Hey!" a voice called. "I came to thank you for--huh? Who are the pretty ladies?"

"Pretty ladies?" Taemi and Erena asked in unison.

"These are two of our new friends," Kakuzu explained. "They--"

"Ooh, yay!" Meiko cheered. "We should have a welcome party. I'll call the guys."

"Wait--"

But Meiko was already gone.

Twenty minutes later everyone except Izuno was accumulated on the front lawn.

"What is up with you blurting out secrets, Kakuzu?" Hareta demanded.

"They really won't be a problem," Kakuzu said. "They both know that if they say one word outside our circle, I'll impale them."

Everyone, including Hidan were staring with wide eyes.

"O-okay…," Hareta said, quietly.

"Hey," Meiko said, cheerily. "Where's Izuno-kun?"

As if on cue Izuno stepped onto the premises.

"Hey guys," he said smiling.

His smile changed to a sly grin.

"Hello, Hidan," he said putting his arms gently around his middle. "How are you?"

Hidan was now basically either shaking with anger, embarrassment or fear and his cheeks were totally red.

"Izuno!" Kakuzu warned sternly.

"Okay, chill," Izuno said, releasing Hidan. "I was just teasing."

Hidan hurriedly went to Kakuzu's side seemingly almost scared of Izuno.

Kakuzu sighed in annoyance.

"Just calm down," Kakuzu groaned, patting Hidan's shoulder.

"You are such a mega perv, Izuno-kun," a familiar voice said.

Everyone turned to see Tenko, dressed as eclectically as usual.

"T-Tenko-ch-chan?" Hidan stuttered, still slightly shaken by Izuno's greeting.

"Yeah," she said. "It's me."

"Why are you here?"

"Meiko-chan called me talking about two new girls and wh-whoa! A freaking zombie!"

"Ooh," Erena said. "Déjà vu."

"Ooh la la," Izuno said inching over to Erena. "A maiden beauty."

"Excuse me, would you mind--oh my g--move!"

Erena pulled out a huge gun and blasted what was once squirrel but was now a crisp, barbecued mass.

"Oops," she said. "I thought it was a witch or something."

Everyone except Taemi was staring in astonishment.

Where'd the gun come from? That thing was huge!

"Oh, Erena-san," Taemi said. "How foolish. You should of killed it directly, like this."

Taemi pulled a blood-stained knife out her pocketbook and brought it down on the dead squirrel slicing it like a hot knife through butter.

"Now," she said, sitting back in her spot. "Do you see?"

"Impressed," Erena said.

Everyone else was stunned with a mix of pure fear and shock.

A bloodstained knife in an accountant's pocketbook?

Was anyone normal anymore?

"So," Kakuzu finally said. "That's why you have few clients and why all those up to date have 'no comment' on your previous performance."

Everyone's eyes widened (excluding Erena and Taemi of course).

Genmaru, Nobuyuki, Izuno and Yumi inched back and Fuyumi, Meiko and Sorami backed all the way to a tree…two yards away. Hareta and Suzuki got into protective stances and Akako and Kuromi put their hands one their guns. Hidan inched closer to Kakuzu.

"Should we be leaving?" Sasori asked, protectively moving slightly in front of Hidan.

"No," Taemi said. "I won't kill you. Those previous clients were just idiots that's all. And I was young then so you know."

__

What an interesting life. Kakuzu mused. _A **very** interesting life._

_**A/N: Ha! Gotcha! You thought you'd seen the last of the OCs. ^.^ Anyways, yes Erena and Taemi are not normal. LOL!**_


	15. Chapter 15

_**I do not own Naruto but I DO own the all the OCs**_

**_A/N: As you can see I fixed the chapter numbers. Sorry for the mistake. Enjoy this exciting chapter. ^.^_**

Chapter 15: Shinzouko Appears!

Hidan, Kakuzu and Sasori had just finished taking care of some business in Tokyo and were riding down the street headed home.

"Hey, Kakuzu," Hidan called from the back seat.

"What?" Kakuzu asked.

"Um, I'm kind of hungry."

"And why are you telling me this?"

"Well, I was kind of hoping we could have Italian. You know, from Francesca."

"What!?"

Kakuzu swerved and almost hitting another car.

"Oh my gosh, what are you doing?!" Sasori yelled. "Hidan is in the back seat!"

"Sasori, I know!" Kakuzu said. "Just shut up."

He turned to face Hidan.

"Wow," Hidan mused. "All I said was Fr--"

"Don't say it!" Kakuzu yelled. "It's way too expensive."

"Kakuzu," Sasori said. "You haven't really given Hidan anything lately."

"I know. Like I said, too expensive."

"At least he hasn't had a craving for lobst--"

Kakuzu slapped his hand over Sasori's mouth.

"Do you want me to have a heart attack?" he asked, lowering his hand from Sasori's mouth.

"No, at least, not a the moment," Sasori said. "Why?"

"That would give me a heart attack. Don't give him that idea."

"Regardless of _whatever_ you guys are talking about," Hidan said. "I'm hungry."

"Kakuzu," Sasori repeated.

"Fine!" Kakuzu yelled. "If you guys are gonna keep nagging I have no choice. Goodness! Sasori is like a nagging wife!"

"Shut up or I'll marry you," Sasori teased.

So they left to go to Francesca's.

Kakuzu was sitting at the table growling while they waited for their food.

"Stop moping, Kakuzu," Sasori said.

"I repeat, shut up," Kakuzu snarled.

"I'm just surprised you gave in Kakuzu," Hidan said. "That's an awfully big change of heart. Usually you'd just decapitate me."

"I can't do that right now," Kakuzu said flatly.

"Well, I suppose that's true, but still. You didn't have to give in."

"It seems _someone_ has a softer side than we all know," Sasori said.

"Don't bother me or we're leaving," Kakuzu ordered.

Hidan and Sasori smiled but shut up.

Suddenly Hidan noticed a familiar lacey figure walking by the window.

He knocked on it.

The young woman turned around, smiled and began walking towards the door.

He was right; it was Erena.

She was soon sitting with them.

"Fancy seeing you guys here," Erena said.

"Really," Sasori agreed. "I thought you were cleaning the apartment."

"We're out of milk. I'm getting some."

"Oh."

"Hidan's cravings are gonna kill me," Kakuzu groaned, abruptly.

"Kakuzu-sama looks unhappy," Erena said.

"Money," Sasori replied.

"Oh, okay."

"What about Kakuzu's money?" a familiar voice asked.

They all looked up to see Taemi.

"Oh, Taemi-san," Erena said.

"What about Kakuzu's money?" she reiterated.

"Kakuzu doesn't want to pay for the food," Sasori explained.

Taemi sat down next to Kakuzu.

"Show me the menu," she said.

Kakuzu handed one to her and she scanned it nodding.

She pulled out a calculator, pressed a few numbers talking to him occasionally and then showed Kakuzu.

"Now, see?" she said to him.

Kakuzu nodded approval.

"What?" Hidan asked.

"It's money," Taemi replied. "You'd never understand."

Hidan rolled his eyes.

"Well, we might as well order, ne, Erena-san?"

"Okay, then," Erena agreed.

After a small while everyone had their food and were happy, Hidan being the happiest.

"Is everything okay?" the waitress asked.

She had an odd appearance.

She had long icy bluish-white hair and ice-blue eyes that stared deep into your soul.

She looked so unusual that everyone stared for a few minutes before Erena answered, "Yes, it's fine."

"Good," the waitress cackled.

"What?"

"Lightening-Quick Knockout!"

Suddenly electric blasts shot from her hand and all the people in and around the restaurant except Kakuzu, Hidan, Sasori, Erena and Taemi were knocked out cold.

"What the [censored]?" Hidan said.

The waitress cackled and transformed her outfit turning it into a black witches outfit.

"A witch?!" everyone asked.

"Wait!" Hidan said. "I thought--"

"You thought we were gone because you killed that silly apprentice witch?" the witch asked.

She laughed evilly.

"And you thought she was trouble," she said. "Well get ready for some real trouble. Listen up! I'm Shinzouko. Dangerous witch number 1!"

Everyone stood up, Erena readying her guns.

Shinzouko walked over to them swinging her hips.

"Ooh," she said, touching Kakuzu cheek. "You're kind of cute."

She kissed his cheek.

Kakuzu tried to punch her but she teleported, dodging it. Kakuzu's punch hit a table sending it flying.

"Ooh, baby," Shinzouko crooned. "Don't be so touchy."

Kakuzu growled.

Erena shot at the witch but she put up a force field. The blast from Erena's huge gun knocked Shinzouko back into some dishes which cut her.

She got up snarling.

"Why you little--!" she growled.

Suddenly Kakuzu smacked the witch.

She released a huge blast of lightning at him.

Kakuzu sank to the ground in pain.

"Ah, Kakuzu-sama!" Erena yelled.

Everyone went to his side.

"It's okay," Kakuzu coughed. "I'm alive."

Hidan threw a knife at Shinzouko.

"Heh," she said. "You'd best not mess with me."

She shot another blast of lightning.

It was about to hit Hidan but Kakuzu protected him.

Kakuzu winced.

"Kakuzu!" Hidan yelled.

He got on his knees next to him.

"Are you okay?" he asked.

Kakuzu got up, wincing.

He punched the Shinzouko unmercifully.

The witch fell to the ground grabbing her ribcage, blood dripping from her mouth.

"Ugh!" she groaned. "When I come back, you are all going to get it."

With this she disappeared.

When she left her spell began to wear off. The people were regaining consciousness.

"C'mon," Sasori whispered, gesturing for them to follow. "Before they wake up."

With this they all snuck out before anyone knew and left.

_**A/N: Pictures of all Erena, Taemi and Shinzouko are on my profile. Shinzouko is pronounced "sheen zoh koh."**_

_**Hope you enjoyed. :)**_

_**~Katsuki Shizenno**_


	16. Chapter 16

_**I do not own Naruto but I DO own the all the OCs**_

**_A/N: After all the fighting we finally get a more sentimental chapter (not too sentimental though XD). Remember I stated this was a NON-yaoi KakuHida piece. Don't try to materialize yaoi out of this chapter. :P_**

Chapter 15: Kakuzu's Anger; Hidan's Confusion

It was 6:30 p.m.

Kakuzu hadn't said anything to him since earlier at Francesca's.

Hidan was confused. What did he do?

Hidan saw Kakuzu headed out the door so he followed him.

"Kakuzu," he called once he'd gotten down the stairs. "Hey, wait."

Kakuzu slowed his pace.

Kakuzu didn't want to slow down but he knew Hidan would speed up trying to catch him and might hurt himself.

"Kakuzu," Hidan said, finally beside him. "Where are you going?"

Kakuzu didn't answer him but kept walking straight ahead into the courtyard that was in the complex.

Now, Hidan was more puzzled.

Kakuzu only went there alone when he needed to blow off some steam.

Kakuzu kept walking straight ahead at the slow pace he was using in case Hidan was still following him. Sooner or later he'd have to go away.

"Kakuzu," Hidan said, now annoyed. "Why are you ignoring me? What the [censored] did I do to you? Just tell me."

"Hidan," Kakuzu said whipping around. "Will you just get away from me? You're annoying me more than I already was."

"But why? Why were you annoyed?"

Kakuzu clenched his fist.

"Kakuzu?" Hidan pressed. "Just answer me!"

"Shut up!" Kakuzu snapped.

Hidan flinched.

"You are why I'm annoyed!" Kakuzu growled at Hidan. "You are such an idiot! I wish I could slap you right now!"

Hidan stared at him for a moment.

"But why?" he finally asked again. "What did I do?"

"You are too rash!" Kakuzu hissed. "I don't know what you were thinking earlier but I could just kill you!"

"I was thinking I needed to repay you."

"What?"

"Well I was just thinking--"

"No."

"But--"

"Hidan!" Kakuzu yelled grabbing Hidan's shoulders. "…I'm not exactly standing here hoping you just die."

"No, but--Wait. What?"

"Well, I'm not."

Hidan looked at him inquiringly.

Kakuzu sat down on the grass and Hidan followed him.

"Why exactly do you think I look after you like I do?" Kakuzu asked. "Well, okay, sure Leader-sama is paying me to, but even if he didn't I probably would've anyway."

"Why?" Hidan asked.

"Because, if I didn't it'd be…You know how if you have a dog whose too naïve for his own good but you feel guilty if he gets himself into trouble?"

"Yeah."

"Same thing."

"You just compared me to a dog, Kakuzu."

"Best example I could come up with. I mean I was thinking about using…never mind."

"What?"

"You're like, y'know, a totally annoying younger brother who can't keep out of trouble."

"So you want me to see you as Kakuzu-onii-chan?"

Kakuzu shrugged.

"It was a good metaphor."

"I'd rather be your dog."

Kakuzu cocked a brow but then laughed.

"It was best thing I could come up with," he said.

Kakuzu turned to Hidan.

"Speaking of coming up with stuff," Kakuzu said. "Have you come up with a name yet?"

"A name?" Hidan questioned.

"You know, for your baby."

Hidan freaked out still seeming embarrassed.

Kakuzu chuckled.

"Quit laughing!" Hidan said, putting his hands on his stomach. "I seriously think it listens to you or something. It just moved a second ago."

"You know," Kakuzu said. "By the time you actually get over the shock of this entire thing it'll be born already."

"Shut up," Hidan groaned. "We don't even know if it's a boy or a girl. Beside names are a special thing. I think you should put a lot of time and effort into choosing a name."

"That sounded motherly."

"Shut up Kakuzu-onii-baka."

He stuck out his tongue.

Kakuzu patted Hidan's head and Hidan looked up inquisitively.

"You're hopeless," Kakuzu sighed, smiling. "You truly are."

**_A/N: I hope you enjoyed. :) _**

**_~Katsuki Shizenno_**


	17. Chapter 17

_**I do not own Naruto but I DO own the all the OCs**_

Chapter 17: Nobuyuki vs Shinzouko

The next day Hidan accidentally mentioned a word of the fight to Meiko and Meiko, once again, assembled everyone.

"This creepy witch sounds like a formidable enemy," Nobuyuki remarked.

"Creepy, nothing," Tenko said. "Anyone who thinks Kakuzu is cute is _way_ more than creepy."

Kakuzu narrowed his eyes.

She was definently worse than Hidan at anytime.

"I mean, how about a trip to a psychiatrist," Tenko continued.

Kakuzu growled.

Hidan looked over at Kakuzu, who was sitting next to him as always, shrugged, and then grimaced when he heard the 'thwack' sound of Kakuzu clocking Tenko over the head.

"Ow!" Tenko screamed. "Hey, lay off, will ya?!"

"After you shut up," Kakuzu snarled.

"Whatev. I was just making a point."

"A very useless point."

"I wasn't--"

"Anyway," Nobuyuki interrupted. "This witch. I've got a plan."

"A plan?" Sasori questioned.

Nobuyuki nodded.

Sasori looked at the others for approval and they agreed.

"Yeah, alright," Hareta said. "But it had better not be stupid."

"It won't," Nobuyuki said, nonchalantly.

"Alright!" Yumi cheered. "Nobu-onii-chan's taking authority!"

"I told you not to call me that," Nobuyuki said, dryly, and smacked Yumi over the head.

* * *

A few days later Nobuyuki and the others went to an old abandoned warehouse so Nobuyuki's plan could take place.

"You sure this'll work?" Hareta asked.

"Almost positive," Nobuyuki said. "Regardless, we need to try."

Nobuyuki sat on the ground meditating.

A blue aura appeared around him.

"Huh?" Hidan asked, surprised.

"Well," Genmaru said. "Now you know how he guessed your names correctly."

"Not the least bit."

"Nobuyuki-kun was born with telepathic abilities. He can also create fields of energy. He thinks it may lead the witch girl to us if she senses the increase of paranormal activity."

"That may work…," Kakuzu said. "Maybe. But we still have the problem on how to beat her."

"Shoot her," Kuromi said, matter-of-factly.

Kakuzu shook his head in disbelief.

"That won't necessarily work," Kakuzu stated. "You remember that last little witch girl. She had force fields and she was just an apprentice. Shinzouko is a full-fledge witch."

"Still," Sasori said. "We have a chance here."

"What do you mean?" Kakuzu asked.

"No one's around here. We can use our jutsu. Besides,"--he pulled out his Third Kazekage puppet--"The Third Kazekage was getting bored."

Kakuzu grinned.

Then he turned to Hidan.

"And you," he said firmly. "No crazy stunts."

Hidan groaned.

"You are just annoying, Kakuzu," he said. "Annoying."

"Hidan."

"I know. Just…relax, Kakuzu."

Kakuzu rolled his eyes.

"Alright then," he said turning back to Sasori. "You--"

"Shh!" Sasori silenced him. "I sense someone coming."

"I sense it too," Nobuyuki said. "Hide."

Everyone obeyed and hid behind objects in the warehouse and sure enough, Shinzouko walked into the warehouse.

"Hmm," she said to herself. "I was sure I felt some type of magical presence here. Ah, Shinzouko you're getting dull."

Suddenly some thing cut her arm.

She whipped around looking for the object and was astonished at what she saw.

"A flying piece of iron?" she asked herself.

"Actually, it's iron sand," Sasori corrected, coming out of his hiding spot. "You're dead, princess."

He rained iron sand on Shinzouko. She put up a force field.

"Crud!" Nobuyuki exclaimed.

Nobuyuki shot a large ball of energy at her catching her off guard.

She screamed but got back up shooting lighting at them.

"Alright," Kakuzu said to Hidan. "They need my help. Stay put."

"Okay," Hidan said with a smirk.

"Hidan, I mean it."

"Okay, okay."

Kakuzu groaned in frustration and was about to yell at him but realized everyone else had started to help and Akako had been foolish enough to let herself be cornered. She was about to be fried by Shinzouko's lightning blasts.

He had to help her.

He gave Hidan one more warning glance and took off, hurling a punch at Shinzouko.

She dodged.

"Let's fight fire with fire," Kakuzu said. "Or rather, lighting with lighting."

He made a few hand signs.

"Lightning Style: Lightning Fang Jutsu!"

He shot a blast of lightning at her but she canceled it out with her own lightning.

She cackled.

Sorry cutie," she grinned. "Not good enough."

Kakuzu growled.

Meanwhile, Hidan was waiting for his chance.

He'd been practicing for weeks on jutsu that don't actually require use of your body but he needed Shinzouko's blood.

Sasori was using everything he'd got but it wasn't working.

Then Nobuyuki shot a ball of energy again.

Shinzouko, again, used a force field but Hidan noticed the force field changed appearance when the energy ball hit it.

He knew exactly how to beat her.

He needed that blood though.

Just then Sasori hit her and some splattered nearby him.

Yes! Now which new jutsu should he use. He need to immobilize her.

He used the blood to make a Jashin symbol and put his hands on it.

"Summoning Jutsu: Jashin's Seeker!" he called.

An evil, black, shadow-like figure appeared.

It rose and flew toward Shinzouko grabbing her and shocking her.

"What the [censored] is this thing!" she screamed.

"Nobuyuki-kun!" Hidan yelled. "She's weak to your abilities. Get her!"

Nobuyuki realized he need to get her as soon as possible because whatever the black thing was wasn't going to be able to hold on much longer.

He shot at her and she screeched in horror.

She threw the Jashin's Seeker off and shot lightning at Nobuyuki in rage.

Nobuyuki put up a force field and shot again at Shinzouko who doubled back.

He put his hands on her. He began to drain her power from her and then shot it back at her in a large beam.

Shinzouko fell to the ground in a heap, not moving at all.

"We got her," Nobuyuki said.

Suddenly a shadowy, cloaked figure appeared and grabbed Shinzouko, and disappeared with her.

"What the--!" Tenko yelled. "What was that?!"

"Whoa!" Sorami said. "That was awesome! I feel like I'm in InuYasha or something!"

Everyone rolled their eyes.

Hidan came up to them.

"Hidan," Kakuzu scolded.

"What?" Hidan asked.

Kakuzu walked up to him, glaring.

"What?" Hidan repeated.

Kakuzu wiped some blood from the corner of Hidan's mouth.

"Oops!" Hidan said.

"Hidan!" Kakuzu scolded, again.

"I didn't do a thing! Honest! I only used a summoning jutsu. I just couldn't resist tasting some of it…Sorry."

"A summoning jutsu?" Tenko asked. "You mean the creepy black thing?"

Hidan nodded.

"But still--" Kakuzu started.

"Alright," Genmaru interrupted, trying to keep everything calm. "Can we go get some ice cream now? Y'know, to celebrate our win."

"Ice cream!" Meiko cheered.

So everyone began walking.

"Hidan," Kakuzu said, after a while.

"What?" Hidan asked. "I said I was sorry."

Kakuzu plucked him in the forehead.

"Ouch!" Hidan yelled.

"I'm impressed."

"Huh?"

"You didn't make any rash movements and you _did_ stay put. You actually used your head for once."

Hidan looked at him with a confused expression.

"Just keep being careful," Kakuzu said, smiling. "Okay?"

"Okay."

"Good then."

They began walking again.

"Kakuzu," Hidan said.

"Hmm?" he replied.

"I want chocolate. Three scoops of it."

"No. Just one."

**_A/N: As always, I hope you enjoyed. :) If you didn't get the "relax" comment Hidan used on Kakuzu, refer to earlier chapters._**

**_~Katsuki Shizenno_**


	18. Chapter 18

_**I do not own Naruto but I DO own the all the OCs**_

Chapter 18: Katamaru Part 1

It was another one of those days. It was dark, gloomy and hung heavy of danger. Walking down the street to the store is the last thing you'd want to do.

"Days like this always give me the chills," Hidan said. "Why did we have to go to the store today?"

"It's just the corner store," Sasori said. "Besides, Kakuzu won't have us using 'unnecessary gas' right Kakuzu?"

Sasori looked at him mockingly.

"It _is_ unnecessary gas," he said flatly.

Sasori rolled his eyes.

Hidan sighed.

"Why did Erena have to be busy with housecleaning _today_?" he complained.

They were about a block from the store when suddenly all time around them stopped!

"What the [censored]?!" Hidan yelled.

"Great," Kakuzu muttered.

"Got you," a dark voice said.

The same cloaked figure from before was standing in front of them.

"You again," Sasori said.

A slight, lip gloss-covered grin was visible from under the cloak.

The woman grabbed Hidan and disappeared in a bright light. Then, time went back to normal leaving Sasori and Kakuzu bewildered and shocked.

Then next thing Hidan knew he was at the cloaked woman's feet, sitting on the ground.

"Now I have you!" she said.

Hidan stabbed her in the side with a kunai and backed away from her.

He looked around.

He was in an alley but he definitely didn't recognize the part Tokyo he was in.

"Why you little--!" the cloaked woman growled.

She started towards him.

He stabbed her arm with his spear, drew a Jashin symbol on the ground with her blood and sent a Jashin seeker after her.

It grabbed her, shocking her and while she was caught in it's grasp, Hidan hurried away as fast as he currently could. He went down the street being careful not to trip for the sidewalk was broken and cracked. He kept walking, looking occasionally over his shoulder for the woman, until he reached a better part of the city. The part of the city he was now in was a clean, well-lit place with many shops and main streets. He looked at what the people were wearing, the shops and the advertisements on the billboards and figured out he was in the Harajuku neighborhood. That wasn't good. He was miles away from the neighborhood he lived in. He had no idea what to do. He knew the woman might have followed him, though, so he ducked into a media store.

He browsed for a while, knowing the she would never look in there, waiting for enough time to pass for him to be safe.

He saw some Grey's Anatomy merchandise and thought of Kakuzu. But he was pretty much penniless, so he walked away from the shelf. When he exited the store he noticed the temperature had dropped tremendously and most people were off the streets. He began to walk aimlessly, pondering what he'd do. He had no idea how to get back and, even if he did, he had no idea where the next subway or bus stop was. He reached in his pocket for his cell phone. It was gone! It must've dropped somewhere. Suddenly he felt something cold on his neck.

He looked up.

It was snowing. The first snow of the year.

Almost no one was on the streets now. That's when he noticed the person, a few feet ahead of him, looking at him.

He stopped dead in his tracks, suspicious of the person.

The person walked toward Hidan. He had thick blond hair and amber eyes. He was wearing a coat Hidan could tell was expensive.

The guy stopped in front of Hidan.

"Do you need money?" the guy asked flatly.

"Money?" Hidan asked.

"Well, you _are_ homeless, right?"

Hidan looked at him with a look of surprise and offense.

"I'm not homeless," Hidan said, matter-of-factly.

"Oh?" the guy asked.

"No."

The wind blew making Hidan shiver.

"Okay," the guy said, looking at him judgmentally. "Then why, pray tell, are you out here?"

"I got lost," Hidan said, embarrassed. "I live on the other side of the city."

"How'd you get here?"

"Long story. But I'm _not_ homeless!"

"Okay, okay, chillax."

"I'm already chilled and not relaxed, thank you very much."

Hidan began to walk away. Suddenly, the guy grabbed his hand.

Hidan whipped around, ready to snap, but noticed the guy was smiling, no, laughing.

"What?" Hidan asked.

"You made me laugh," the guy smiled. "I guess that earns you something."

He led him to the curve, called somebody and, the next thing Hidan knew, a limo had pulled up.

The guy dragged Hidan in and they pulled off.

Hidan wanted to protest and tell the guy he wasn't helpless but then he realized that he had no choice but to follow, especially in his condition.

"You want a onigiri?" the guy asked.

"Um, sure," Hidan answered.

"I'm Katamaru, by the way," the guy said. "Katamaru Koteino."

"Okay."

"'Okay?'"

"Um, yeah."

Hidan bit into the onigiri.

"You don't know who I am?" Katamaru asked in disbelief.

"No," Hidan replied with his mouth full. "I reavy dun't."

"Katamaru Koteino? The writer of Uwasabanashi magazine?"

Hidan swallowed.

"No," he repeated. "I don't read many magazines. Except for manga and anime magazines."

Katamaru widened his eyes in disbelief.

"Okay, then," he finally said.

"Do you have any more?" Hidan asked, referring to the onigiri.

"Here," Katamaru said, putting one in his hand.

Hidan took a large bite.

Katamaru giggled.

"What?" Hidan asked.

"Oh, nothing," Katamaru laughed.

_What an interesting person._ Katamaru thought. _Very_.

**_A/N: As always, I hope you enjoyed. :) In this chapter there are two puns. First, the name of the gossip magazine. "Uwasabanashi" (oo wah sah bah nah shee) means "gossip" in Japanese. Second is Katamaru's name. "Kata" means 'words' and "maru" is a name particle used for males; "Kotei" means "emperor" and "no" is a possesive particle. If you put it all together it roughly translates to "the emperor of words." Harajuku is a neighborhood in Japan where many fashions such as Lolita and Ganguro styles are found._**

**_~Katsuki Shizenno_**


	19. Chapter 19

_**I do not own Naruto but I DO own the all the OCs**_

Chapter 19: Katamaru Part 2

Hidan was astonished when they pulled up to Katamaru's elaborate, two-story, French-style mansion. There were holly bushes lining the long driveway and vines growing up the tall pillars at the front double-door.

"You've never been to a mansion?" Katamaru asked, noticing Hidan's surprise.

"No, I've been to one," Hidan said. "I just didn't think you could afford such just by being a magazine writer."

"I told you I was _the _writer of Uwasabanashi mag."

"Yeah, yeah," Hidan replied. "I know."

When they walked in the door many maids were there waiting for his return. The cream, and gold décor, elaborate crystal chandeliers and modern furniture gave the mansion a uniquely regal look.

"Welcome home, Master!" the maids all said.

He smiled approval.

"We have a guest tonight ladies," Katamaru said. "Make him feel at home."

"Yes, Master," they all said.

Katamaru took off his coat and handed it to one of the maids then went to the kitchen.

"Dinner for two please," Katamaru said to the maids in the kitchen. "Just some roast chicken, bamboo steamed rice, kitsune soba and green-tea ice cream for desert."

The maids all nodded.

"Just?" Hidan asked.

"Yes," Katamaru said, proudly.

Hidan rolled his eyes.

Katamaru began walking.

"Follow me," he said.

"Fine," Hidan muttered.

He followed him to an elevator.

They rode it to the second floor. Katamaru led Hidan to a large bedroom with a cream single bed, white walls and beautiful lamps all around. There was also a door leading out to a balcony.

"This is where you'll sleep tonight," Katamaru said.

"Here?!" Hidan practically screamed. "It's only one night!"

"I know. Just showing my hospitality."

"You are so stuck up."

"And you have a say in that, homeless boy?"

"I'm not homeless!"

"For tonight, you are."

Hidan growled but shut up.

Then he realized the others had no idea where he was.

"If you're so hospitable can I use the phone?" Hidan asked, sardonically.

"Sure," Katamaru answered and then left the room.

He dialed the number of the apartment.

"Hello," said Erena's voice from the other line.

"Hi, Erena," Hidan said.

"Hidan-sama!?" Erena screeched. "You're okay!"

"Yeah, I am."

"Great! Oh. Wait a moment."

"Hidan," Kakuzu's voice said from the other line.

"Oh, Kakuzu," Hidan said surprised. "I didn't expect you to--"

"Never mind it. Where are you?"

"Harajuku."

"What?!"

"It was the cloaked lady."

Kakuzu sighed heavily.

"Okay," he said. "I guess I'll come pick you up then."

"No. It's okay. It's 8 p.m., Kakuzu. I've got a place to stay."

"You had better not be lying."

"I promise I'm not. A friend of mine did me a favor."

"Yes I did!" Katamaru yelled from the other room.

"Eavesdropper!" Hidan yelled back.

Hidan went back to talking to Kakuzu.

"So, anyway, it's no big deal," he finished.

"Alright," Kakuzu said. "Talk to you later then. Bye."

"B--"

Katamaru snatched the phone.

"Don't worry about him," he said. "I'll bring him to you tomorrow. Bye-bye!"

Katamaru hung up.

"Hospitality," he grinned.

Hidan growled.

"You little--!" he yelled.

Just then a maid walked in with the food on a tray.

"Oh, good," Katamaru said. "Just set it down on the table."

Then the maid left.

"Are you gonna eat?" Katamaru asked.

"Fine," Hidan muttered again.

He began eating.

Katamaru watched him for a while.

"It seems as if you eat twice your weight," Katamaru said, finally.

"Huh?" Hidan asked.

"You just don't look like the type of person who eats a lot," Katamaru stated.

"Oh," Hidan said blushing. "Well, yeah, sometimes I eat a lot."

"Sometimes?"

Hidan cursed inwardly.

_Wrong choice of words._ He thought to himself.

"Um, well, yeah," he stuttered. "You know, on days like today when I've missed a meal."

"Oh," Katamaru said.

He resumed eating.

_That was close._

After that they retired to bed.

Hidan was tired and was about to drag himself into be when he heard a strange noise. The sound of flapping material.

He looked out the window.

The cloaked-woman from before was levitating outside.

Hidan gasped and backed up to the door.

The woman broke the window.

Hidan hurried out the door and down the hall.

The woman flew after him, evilly cackling.

Katamaru came out his bedroom, disturbed.

"What is all the noise--wah!"

Hidan smacked right into him.

"What the--?!" Katamaru said, astonished.

Suddenly the woman shot a blast of wind at the floor, breaking it up.

Katamaru grabbed Hidan's hand and began to run down the stairs.

"Stop!" Hidan yelled.

"What?!" Katamaru asked. "I'm going into the garden! Outside is way better than in here!"

"No, no, stop!"

"What?"

Hidan broke away from Katamaru and Katamaru stopped.

"What are you doing?!" he demanded.

"I can't run," Hidan said.

"What do you mean?"

"I can't. I-I just can't."

"Hidan! What are you do--?! Ugh! Never mind!"

Katamaru pulled Hidan out the back door and into the garden maze. They ducked down low.

"What is going on?!" Katamaru whispered.

"I don't know," Hidan replied.

"Oh, yes, you do!"

"She's after me."

"Why?"

"I don't know."

"Hidan!"

"Um, well--"

Suddenly a blast of wind nearby cut Hidan off.

Katamaru pulled Hidan away from the blast.

Hidan analyzed the situation. (Something he really doesn't usually do.)

"I need to hit her in her heart," Hidan whispered to Katamaru.

"How?" Katamaru asked.

"Just wait for the right time."

The cloaked woman flew towards them.

Hidan stabbed her with his spear but missed her heart and cut her arm instead.

He decided to use the blood to summon a Jashin's Seeker.

The Jashin's Seeker grabbed the cloaked woman sending out electric currents as usual. It immobilized her but Hidan couldn't touch her until the electric currents stopped. She was infuriated and sent out a blast of wind. Katamaru grabbed Hidan out the way. Then Hidan stabbed the cloaked woman right in the heart. She shrieked in pain sinking to the ground. Then she disappeared.

"Okay," Katamaru said. "What the [censored] is going on?"

"Well," Hidan said. "Let's just say I'm…special."

"Hidan!"

Hidan blushed bright red.

"What?" Katamaru questioned.

"Can my friends explain tomorrow?" Hidan asked, quietly.

"Ugh! Whatever! I'm tired anyway."

So they went inside and retired to bed.

**_A/N: As always, I hope you enjoyed. :) The fact that Katamaru doesn't use any honorifics with Hidan shows that he has no respect for him whatsoever. XD Katamaru is the last permenant OC. Any others will be single appearance OCs that will have to have requested returns. There is a picture of Katamaru on my profile as are the other characters and, now, you can vote for your favorite OC using my latest poll. :D_**

**_~Katsuki Shizenno_**


	20. Chapter 20

_**I do not own Naruto but I DO own the all the OCs**_

**_A/N: Just in case any of you reader were wondering how it could be inconspicuous in the first place I thought I'd take the time to say here. Hmm, how do I put this...It's soughta like an oblivion, I guess you could say, that it's growing in...(I did it that way for specific reasons in the fanfic, too many to list, really.) Mahokos have an abundance of magical abilities, depending on the mahoko, so that can be done, but, of course, I won't spoil any other powers for you. ;P_**

Chapter 20: A Neutral Friendship

The next morning Katamaru took Hidan home.

When they walked in the door Erena was there in an instant, first giving Hidan a hug and then offering to take Katamaru's coat and shoes.

"Oh!" Kakuzu said, coming into the foyer. "You're back."

Hidan blushed.

"What?" Kakuzu asked.

"Well…," Hidan started.

"What?"

"We have a slight problem…"

"A problem?"

Hidan nodded tentatively.

"Well, Katamaru saw some things…and now he wants to know about me…s-so that's up to you to explain," Hidan stuttered, quietly.

Kakuzu slapped himself in the face.

"Hidan," he groaned.

"It was the cloaked lady!" Hidan protested.

"Stop repeating yourself," Kakuzu ordered.

He walked over to Katamaru, who was standing by the door obliviously expecting an explanation, grabbed his arm and led him into his bedroom.

Sasori came out his room just in time to hear the door slam.

He winced.

"What's the story on this one?" he asked.

He looked over at Hidan who was now on the sofa, staring into oblivion, blushing, and Erena who had begun sweeping with a worried facial expression.

"Somebody knows?" Sasori asked.

Erena looked up and nodded.

"I figured from Hidan's facial expression," Sasori said. "Are you worried, Erena?"

"Not as much about the situation as what Kakuzu will do to Hidan and his new friend," Erena answered.

Sasori laughed.

About 30 minutes later Kakuzu and Katamaru came out the room.

"Erena," Kakuzu called.

As always Erena was in front of her caller in seconds.

"Yes," she answered. "What do you need Kakuzu-sama?"

"Would you mind cooking something for us?"

"Oh! No! I'll get right to it…is Katamaru-san staying?"

Kakuzu nodded.

"Dinner for five, then," she said.

Then Erena bowed and hurried off to obey.

Katamaru turned to Hidan who was looking on, obviously wanting him to leave.

Katamaru felt obliged to pick on him.

"Y'know, Hidan," he said.

"What?" Hidan asked, almost seeming to jump.

"You are a very interesting…is it male or female?"

Hidan blushed, almost falling off the sofa.

Katamaru was being blunt, as always.

"So who's child is it anyways?" he asked.

Hidan threw a pillow at him and then looked around for something harder.

Katamaru laughed.

"I was kidding," Katamaru said. "Kakuzu-san already explained everything."

Hidan gave him a quizzical look.

"Speaking of explaining," he said, turning to Kakuzu. "How do you even know he's telling the truth if it's not visible?"

Kakuzu chuckled.

"Ask Hidan," he grinned.

Katamaru looked at Hidan questioningly.

Hidan hurried and grabbed on to Kakuzu remembering what Izuno had done to him a little while back.

Kakuzu laughed at Hidan's completely unpredictable action and smiled at Katamaru from under his mask.

"I guess he's not interested in showing you," he said, patting Hidan's head gently.

Katamaru shrugged.

After that they ate dinner.

Erena had prepared some seasoned sliced burdock root, udon soup, sushi and a little fish.

"I'm surprised Erena-san can prepare such a good meal without culinary training," Katamaru mused.

Erena glared malevolently at him.

"Well," she said, offended. "_Excuse_ me, you little [censored]."

Katamaru stared, surprised she, a maid, would actually insult him.

Hidan crumbled to laughs.

Katamaru glared at Hidan.

"Hmph!" he huffed. "Laugh while you can."

For a while Katamaru would come over frequently to annoy or tease Hidan and just have fun. He sometimes made Hidan uncomfortable but the two of them were good friends in general and he knew how to make him laugh so Hidan half-enjoyed having Katamaru around. None of them had any idea what Katamaru had in store for them.

**_As always, thanks for reading. :) And, no, Erena is not one of those sweet little maids. She's only that way towards her "family." :)_**

**_~Katsuki Shizenno_**


	21. Chapter 21

_**I do not own Naruto but I DO own the all the OCs**_

Chapter 21: The Ultimate Gossip

After a while, Katamaru stopped coming over. Hidan pondered why but he never said anything. Then, one day, while Kakuzu was watching TV, something occurred to him.

"Hey, Kakuzu," Hidan asked. "Aren't you going to Harajuku tomorrow?"

"Yes," Kakuzu answered. "Why?"

"Oh, I was just thinking about the fact I saw…never mind."

"What?"

"No. It's stupid."

"Most everything you say is stupid."

Hidan glared.

"I was just thinking about this store I saw that had a bunch of Grey's Anatomy stuff in it," he said.

"Really?" Kakuzu asked. "Well, maybe you could show me when we go."

"'We?'"

"Yes. Erena will be doing errands and Sorami needs Sasori's help. You can't stay at home alone."

"It's okay. I'll be fi--"

"Would you rather stay with Izuno?"

"I'll go."

So, the next day, Kakuzu and Hidan drove to Harajuku.

It looked quite alluring since snow covered everything in sight. The buildings' bright colors mixed with the snowy, white undertone gave it a serene, cheerful look.

After Kakuzu was done with his business (he really can't let go of that money), he insisted Hidan take him to the store he was talking about.

As they were about to walk in, Hidan was as absent-minded as ever and walked smack into a passerby.

Hidan reeled backward but Kakuzu caught him, completely annoyed.

"Are you okay?" Kakuzu groaned.

"For real," a familiar voice said. "I didn't hurt your baby, did I?"

It was Katamaru.

"Katamaru," Hidan growled. "I told you about saying that kind of thing out loud."

Katamaru grinned.

"Well, this is something," Kakuzu said. "We haven't seen you in a while."

"Hmm?" Katamaru asked. "Oh, yes, I've been busy with a magazine article. Uwasabanashi can't stop for play, am I right? Well, see you two around."

With this he went to the edge of the street where a limo was waiting and got in.

"That's odd," Kakuzu said.

"What?" Hidan asked.

"He was coming over all the time but now he's suddenly busy…Something's up."

"Do you think so?"

Kakuzu nodded.

"Get in the car," he ordered.

Hidan obeyed and they inconspicuously followed Katamaru back to his grand mansion.

They parked on the street, a block away.

"Follow me," Kakuzu told him.

They went around to the back of the mansion. Bushes were right against the iron fence. Kakuzu easily climbed up and onto a bush.

"And so I'm just staying here?" Hidan asked, perturbed.

"Nope," Kakuzu answered.

With this her reached down with those extend-able arms of his, grabbed Hidan by his arms and raised him up.

Kakuzu grinned at Hidan, who had been caught completely off guard, and then jumped down off the bushes and eased Hidan down.

"Now, to get to Katamaru's room," Kakuzu said.

"His room?" Hidan asked.

"Yes. We're going to spy on him, of course."

"I think his room has a balcony."

"Good. C'mon."

They moved through all the trees in Katamaru's backyard and past a large mermaid fountain, to the mansion. When they reached it, they saw that, sure enough, Katamaru's room had a balcony.

In a way similar to the way they'd gotten over the fence, they climbed to the top of the balcony, only using a few of Kakuzu's ninja moves.

"Very interesting," Kakuzu said, once they were both on the top.

"What?" Hidan asked.

"Even though you don't look it, you're definitely getting heavier."

"Kakuzu!"

Kakuzu put his hand over Hidan's mouth.

"Don't yell," he chuckled. "We're spying, remember."

Hidan glared.

Kakazu walked over to the glass double-door that led into Katamaru's room and peered in.

Katamaru was at his desk, typing on his laptop, seemingly engaged in whatever he was doing.

Suddenly, Katamaru got up, and headed towards the door.

Kakuzu backed up, covering Hidan's mouth for safety precautions.

Katamaru was almost at the door when a crash was heard form downstairs.

Katamaru rushed to find out what the noise was.

Kakuzu grinned.

"Hidan," he said. "Come pick the lock."

"Okay…," Hidan answered, obeying.

They entered Katamaru's room. A large chandelier hung from the middle of the ceiling and a shaggy rug was on his marble floors. His bed was kings sized and a bedside table was besides it with a lamp on it. On top of the bookshelf, next to his desk were awards for the best gossip magazine form many contests. Everything in his room was either white, cream, or made of glass and in a modern style. The only black objects in his room were the black laptop on his wood-and-glass desk and the office chair in front of it.

"Now," Kakuzu said. "Let's see what he was working on."

"Kakuzu, don't you think this is a little far?" Hidan asked.

Kakuzu ignored him and sat at the desk.

"And you call me paranoid," Hidan teased.

"Oh, I'm paranoid?" Kakuzu asked. "Yes, of course. And I suppose you're really looking forward to the entire world knowing you're pregnant?"

"_What_?!"

Hidan leaned over Kakuzu shoulder.

"He's doing an article on _that_?!" he practically screamed.

"I knew he liked you way too much," Kakuzu said. "_No one_ could like you that much."

Hidan scowled at Kakuzu.

"I thought I'd heard someone up here," a voice said, suddenly.

They both turned to see Katamaru standing in the doorway.

Hidan cursed.

"Great," Kakuzu groaned.

**_A/N: Always, thanks for reading. I got the idea of using mostly white things for Katamaru's room from Massie's room in the Clique. Credit goes to Miss Lisi Harrison._**

**_~Katsuki Shizenno_**


	22. Chapter 22

_**I do not own Naruto but I DO own the all the OCs**_

Chapter 22: Decisions

Kakuzu and Hidan stood where they were, not knowing what to do.

"What are you doing?" Katamaru demanded, shutting the door.

"I should be asking you the same thing," Kakuzu retorted.

Katamaru smirked, walking towards them.

"Well, you might as well leave," he said firmly.

"Yes," Kakuzu replied. "Of course. Right after I delete this."

"Typical answer."

Kakuzu was about to press the delete button when he heard a clanging noise.

He turned, swiftly, and saw Hidan's spear and kunai (he'd left his scythe at home) in the middle of the floor. Katamaru had Hidan on the floor. He held a large knife in his hand.

Hidan was helpless to do anything with all his weapons at least 5 feet away (it was a very large bedroom) and Katamaru standing above him with a knife.

Kakuzu got up and began to move towards Katamaru, ready to fight.

"Don't take another step," Katamaru ordered. "Or both Hidan and his child die."

Kakuzu stopped.

They watched each other carefully.

"Y'know," Kakuzu said. "Killing his child would make no sense for you because of your article. Second, Hidan is immortal."

"True," Katamaru answered. "But I just in case this was to happen I did discover the one thing that could kill him."

"Hmm?"

"I can smother him, of course. Even you know that."

Kakuzu never presumed Katamaru would have found out. Odd enough, it was true. Although the reason was unknown, something about smothering could kill a Jashinist. Of course, the Akatsuki were the only ones who knew.

Katamaru held a cloth tightly to Hidan's nose and mouth.

"I'd suggest you do nothing, Kakuzu-san," Katamaru said.

Hidan began to try to break from Katamaru's grasp, attempting to pry his arms off, but surprising enough, Katamaru was quite strong.

"Okay," Kakuzu agreed. "Just stop."

Katamaru took the cloth away; Hidan gasped for air.

"Alright," Katamaru said. "Step away from that computer."

"Let go of Hidan," Kakuzu replied, firmly.

"You first."

Kakuzu obeyed and Katamaru released his grasp. The two passed each other and exchanged malevolent glance.

Kakuzu helped Hidan to his feet.

"Are you okay?" Kakuzu asked.

"Y-yeah," Hidan looked up at Kakuzu. "I-I'm sorry, Kakuzu."

"It's okay," Kakuzu comforted. "We can get through this."

"Well," Katamaru said, mockingly. "I suppose you'll be leaving now. You have no more business here, now do you?"

"So what is this for?" Kakuzu asked.

"What?" Katamaru looked up.

"Why are you so interested in doing this?"

Katamaru dropped what he was doing and walked over to Kakuzu, a serious look fixed in his eyes.

"Kakuzu-san, Uwasabanashi magazine is the most successful gossip magazine in Japan, but if I get this article it will be the most successful magazine in the world. I will be famous, invincible to almost anything. I will make history."

"And so you don't really care what happens to anyone besides you?" Kakuzu narrowed his eyes.

"Why would I?" Katamaru asked.

"I just supposed you were less selfish than that. Not so dark-hearted. More--what's the word I'm looking for? Oh, _hospitable_."

"I saved you from an evil woman who attacked you in the middle of the night," Hidan gritted his teeth. "I let you in on private secrets and we told you the truth. We were your friends. Of course, that was a big mistake. I swear to Jashin, I'd kill you right now if I could."

Kakuzu sighed.

"Don't waste your breath Hidan," he said. "Let's go."

He grabbed Hidan's hand and left though the mansion, not caring of the looks that the maids gave them as they passed.

_**Thanks for reading! :) That whole thing about killing a Jashinist, I made it up. I have no idea if anything can kill a Jashinist. ^.^;　**_

**_~Katsuki Shizenno_**


	23. Chapter 23

_**I do not own Naruto but I DO own the all the OCs**_

Chapter 23: "Hospitality"?

The next day, everyone was in Hidan, Kakuzu and Sasori's living room, trying to find a way around the major problem.

"So what exactly are you going to do, Kakuzu-kun?" Hareta asked.

"I'm not done thinking yet," Kakuzu growled, annoyed at the question that had been asked too many times that day.

Hidan had his head on the table. "I am _done_. Life is cruel."

"Hidan," Fuyumi said. "You've been lamenting for an hour now."

Hidan mumbled curses.

"There is no way around this," Sasori said. "It's a fact guys."

Suddenly, somebody knocked on the door.

"People read that fast?" Kakuzu pondered, knowing it was the media.

Hidan began moaning again and uttering curses.

"Just don't open it," Sasori said, leaning back in his chair.

The knocking continued for a second, and then stopped.

"I come all the way here, and no one opens the door," a familiar voice complained. "I mean, omigosh, those people!"

"Wait," Kakuzu said. "I know that voice. Katamaru?"

Hidan looked up for a second. "But why?"

"I'll go see," Erena got up from the chair she was sitting in.

She opened the door.

"Finally." Sure enough it was Katamaru.

"What are you doing here?" Kakuzu asked.

Katamaru let himself in. "I came here for something important."

Kakuzu looked at him questioningly.

Katamaru held out a CPU memory chip.

"See this?" he asked. "It holds all that info you were trying to delete."

Kakuzu rolled his eyes and let out a disaproving sigh. "If you came here to gloat--"

Katamaru dropped the memory chip on the floor crushed it with his foot.

"There," he said. "That takes care of everything."

Everyone stared in awe and confusion.

"You're lying," Kakuzu finally said.

"No," Katamaru said, simply.

"I don't believe you. And trust me, you don't want to openly deceive me."

"Listen. I wouldn't come all the way up here to gloat. What point would that have to that? And if you still foolishly don't believe me, give me a computer and I'll give you a record of all my sent e-mail drafts."

Kakuzu looked at him skeptically.

Suddenly, Katamaru's cell phone rang.

Katamaru glanced at it and smiled. "Proof."

He put it on speaker.

"Katamaru-kun," a male voice came through the speaker. "Why did you cancel the article?"

"I'm busy right now," Katamaru replied. "Chow."

He gave Kakuzu a proud look.

Kakuzu studied him.

"One word:" Sasori said. "Why?"

Katamaru glanced over at Kakuzu. "I just figured I was too _hospitable_ to do something so despicable."

"You make me sick," Kakuzu said.

"Aww."

Kakuzu went up to Katamaru. "If you touch him--"

"Relax. I won't touch your boyfriend."

"On second thought maybe I'll just kill you now."

Sasori held Kakuzu back.

"Okay, okay," Katamaru put his hands up in mock surrender. "Half-boyfriend."

Kakuzu clenched his fist and tried to punch him.

"Shut up if you want to live," Sasori said, losing his grip.

"Alright," Katamaru smiled. "Oh, and this is all under one condition."

"I knew it!" Kakuzu yelled.

"I get to come with you guys when ever I want."

"No wa--"

"I can just rewrite the article."

Kakuzu banged his fist on the wall. "Fine."

"Good. Well, see you guys later. Chow."

With that, he left.

Hidan sat up. "Well, at least life will be more...interesting?"

Everyone groaned.

That was exactly what they didn't want.

**_Thanks for reading people! X) Katamaru is one of those characters who can seriously get on peoples' nerves I guess. LOL! Kakuzu for the main part. So you all can probably guess what the future will be like for those two. LOL! :D_**

**_~Katsuki Shizenno_**


	24. Chapter 24

_**I do not own Naruto but I DO own the all the OCs**_

_**A/N: This is kind of the OC revival chapter, I suppose, since we get to see almost all the OCs in this chapter after a long while. XD Ren Ryouta is one of my temporary or single-appearance OCs.**_

Chapter 24: Pure Annoyance: My Head Is Going to Explode!

It was Saturday and also the most carefree day everyone had experienced in a while. Most of them had decided to spend the crisp morning at the pagoda in the park. It was quite a large pagoda, large enough to fit twenty.

"This is nice," Kakuzu grinned. "All I need is a massage."

Hidan looked at him, annoyed, and whacked him on the back. "Sasori and Erena have it worse than you do."

"No they don't. They're not stuck taking care of you."

"You little--"

"Hey, look!" Sorami got up from her seat. "Isn't that Tenko-chan?"

"Oh yeah," Meiko smiled. "Tenko-chan! Over here!"

Tenko looked over and then quickly turned her head. She started walking again, stopped and then turned to go to the pagoda.

"Yay!" Meiko cheered. "She's coming!"

"Someone's getting a little nicer," Kakuzu taunted, once Tenko reached the pagoda.

"Shut up!" Tenko whipped around. "I can do what I want!"

"Of course."

Tenko sat at the far end of the pagoda with her body turned away from everyone else.

"So how long does she plan to keep up this whole 'I don't like you guys' thing?" Yumi asked.

"Forever, if she could, I presume," Izuno gave a mocking grin. "But with her illogical actions and incorrect calculations, she's not capable of that."

"Ah, poor girl," Hareta smirked, with a dark look on her face.

"At least she's not out to get us," Fuyumi stated.

"Isn't that true," a voice said.

Katamaru was standing nearby.

Everyone jumped.

"Wh-when did you get here?!" Suzuki demanded.

"You want me to shoot him?" Akako pulled out her gun and Kuromi followed.

"Chill, Akako-chan," Genmaru said. "Guns aren't the answer to everything."

"More like nothing," Katamaru added.

Akako put her hands on her hips. "Look, baka. In this situation--"

"Shut up!" Kakuzu shouted.

Everyone quieted down.

Kakuzu walked over to Katamaru. "I don't know what you are doing here but you are ruining--"

"Kakuzu-kun," Katamaru put his hand on Kakuzu's shoulder. "We--"

"Oh, it 's 'kun' now?"

"Yes, it is. Anyway--"

"I never said--"

"Let me finish the freakin' sentence!"

Kakuzu crossed his arms waiting for him to speak.

Katamaru put his hands on his hips. "We had an agreement about me following you, _regardless _of if it's polite or not."

Kakuzu clenched his fist. "You--"

"Have done nothing wrong."

Kakuzu growled.

"Anyway, I brought a friend if you don't mind, Kakuzu-kun."

Just then, a guy about Katamaru's age walked into the pagoda. He wore an suit as opposed to Katamaru's odd orange layered top with oriental designs down the side and black pants and had purple hair done into a loose braid over his shoulder.

"This is Ren Ryouta, my second in command and one of my good friends. I supposed you'd want to meet him since he was the only other person who knew about or read the article."

"Hello," Ren said. "Pleased to meet you all."

He walked over to Hidan.

"So that's why you wanted to rat him out," he mused. "You think he's prettier than you."

"Wha?" Hidan blinked, confused.

"Ren, I am warning you," Katamaru growled.

"Sorry," Ren replied. "Just a thought."

Hidan gave an annoyed look. "Everyone keeps insulting me."

"Aww." Sorami and Meiko threw their arms around Hidan's neck.

"Poor Hidan-kun," Meiko said.

"Uh-huh," Sorami said, sympathetically.

"Quit it!" Hidan yelled.

The girls seemingly didn't hear him and were still latched on.

Hidan shot Kakuzu a look of desperation but Kakuzu was too busy stewing over Katamaru's inconsiderate behavior.

"You know," Katamaru started slowly. "I found a way that you can find these witches you're looking for."

Kakuzu looked at him questioningly.

"You know, rich people can afford special gadgets, elevators, maids…tracking devices."

"Are you serious or is this another sick joke?" Kuromi asked.

"No, it's not," Katamaru smirked. "But it's not like it's free."

"But can you afford it, Kakuzu-san?" a familiar voice asked.

"Oh, Taemi-chan," Hareta looked up from filing her fingernails. "And Erena-chan."

"It's not very expensive," Katamaru explained. "It actually requires physical payment."

"Physical payment?!" Kakuzu clenched his fist. "And would you guys quit popping out of nowhere?!"

Ren snickered. "Well, technically you just weren't paying atten--"

"Shut up," Kakuzu growled.

"Physical payment," Katamaru said as if he were reading a dictionary entry. "An actual kind act that is to be done to or for me for the acquirement of the tracking device."

"Ugh. How could you ask for that when we already agreed on you coming with us whenever you want."

"That was payment for the first thing I did."

"What?!"

"You are very inhospitable, Kakuzu-kun."

Kakuzu shook with rage. "That is _it_! I am leaving before I have to murder someone!"

Katamaru put his hands back on his hips. "Well, that was rude."

"You're one to talk, you insensitive little [censored]!"

Everyone's mouths fell wide open as Kakuzu stormed off.

"Did anyone hear--?" Yumi asked in disbelief.

"Yeah," Sasori said. "We did. He's been talking to Hidan _way_ too much."

Hidan rolled his eyes. "He usually takes a lot longer to get angry like that."

"Yes," Katamaru said. "He really doesn't like me."

His eyes flashed with sudden malevolence. "That's why it's so pleasurable to annoy the [censored] out of him."

"Um, do I sense a grudge?" Sasori rolled his eyes. "Listen. We can 'afford' this entire 'physical payment' thing. Just get us that tracking device."

"Done." Katamaru grinned.

_**A/N: Always, thanks for reading everyone! Ah, it seems Kakuzu lost it...LOL! X)**_ 　

**_~Katsuki Shizenno_**


	25. Chapter 25

_**I do not own Naruto but I DO own the all the OCs**_

Chapter 25: Confrontations

Thanks to Katamaru, Sunday night an outing to the outskirts of the city was arranged. If they wanted to track the witch, they would have to get her to come to them first. This plan was rather ironic, and there were a few objections. The fact that Katamaru insisted he come along was defiently not for the better.

"This is ridiculous," Kakuzu complained.

"Oh really?" Sasori was thoroughly surprised.

"Absolutely."

"Wow," Hidan mused. "Kakuzu has a complaint."

"Yes," Kakuzu said curtly.

"Is Kakuzu upset?" Hidan teased in a exaggerated, cute voice.

"Don't waste my time."

Kakuzu turned away in obvious annoyance.

"He's been like this for a while," Hidan commented, once Kakuzu was a little ways away, by a tree.

"I noticed that," Sasori agreed. "I wonder what's bothering him."

"Let's go find out!" Meiko suggested.

Meiko hurried towards Kakuzu. Shortly after everyone followed, afraid what naïve Meiko would get herself into.

"Hey, Kakuzu-kun," Meiko said, bouncily once she reached him.

"What?" Kakuzu crossed his arms.

"We want to know what's bothering you."

"Huh?"

"You've been in really [censored]," Hidan cut in. "You're not usually like this."

"Yeah," Tenko chimed in. "That's totally Hidan-kun's area."

Hidan gave Tenko a I-wish-I-could-kill you-now look.

"It's nothing," Kakuzu replied.

But his eyes were aflame with murderous anger; Hidan followed his fixed gaze to Katamaru.

Hidan crossed his arms assertively. "Is this about Katamaru-kun?"

"Don't jump to conclusions!" Kakuzu snapped.

"Jashin," Hidan winced. "Chillax, okay?"

Kakuzu just growled, turned and began walking.

"Are we going?" he stopped and then resumed walking again.

Everyone followed, Sasori taking the lead again, to the place they were supposed to be going.

Hidan fell back to the back of their group where Katamaru was slowly following, texting someone.

"Katamaru-kun?" Hidan said.

"What?" Katamaru asked.

"Did you…say anything to Kakuzu?"

Katamaru rolled his eyes, texted another sentence and closed his phone/PDA/texting device.

"You mean your freak of a boyfriend?" he asked.

Hidan let out a groan. "I already told you! Do we look like we're dating?!"

"No. But I like your reactions. Listen, I didn't do anything to Kakuzu. He's just being idiotic."

"You two don't get along, do you?"

"Hmm? Do I like the guy who kept me from being the richest, most famous man in the world? Um, yes. _Of course_."

"Look, I don't know what is wrong with you two, but cut it out. You are messing this plan up entirely."

Katamaru chuckled. "The only one who's causing a problem is him. He has the worst temper in the world."

He cast a judgmental glance at Kakuzu.

Hidan clenched his fist, knowing that Katamaru was wrong. Kakuzu had never had any problems with his temper (for being who he was anyway) before Katamaru came along.

"Kakuzu may have a temper but--!"

Suddenly, Kakuzu came out of nowhere a pushed Katamaru roughly backwards.

"So why was he attacking you this time?" he asked Hidan.

"He wasn't," Hidan insisted.

"Aww," Katamaru said, looking Kakuzu in the eye. "It was so cute the way Hidan tried to defend your sorry butt."

At this point everyone had stopped and was watching wide-eyed.

"Hidan," Kakuzu said. "You don't have to try to do that."

"Oh, of course," Katamaru widened his eyes in amusement. "He needs you to protect him, doesn't he?"

Hidan slapped them both across the face, as hard as possible. "You had _better_ be glad that we're witch hunting tonight because I _swear_to Jashin that I would've unleashed used my jutsu on you! And I've learned a lot of 'em since we've been here."

He turned and began to head towards Sasori, grumbling about the two "first-class idiots" and a few other unspeakable words.

For the rest of the walk Katamaru and Kakuzu kept a distance from each other and Hidan stayed away from the both of them.

Everyone else was afraid to speak because there was an unmistakable, heavy, dangerous feel to the air. It was so strong, it seemed tangible, smothering, like a layer of darkness was compressing the air and attempting to crush them.

After a few blocks of smothering, silent fuming and uncomfortableness, they finally reached where they were going. A small empty field was on the side of the road that had now turned to dirt as they were getting closer to the country. An old, regal, Japanese-style house was in the field. A large Japanese maple covered the house and it's yard in red leaves that were falling, like a flaming but cool rain. Amongst the leaf-covered ground were a few leftover late-fall wildflowers, apparently fighting against the recently-turned-frosty air.

Everyone stared in awe.

"Sugoi!" Meiko mused.

"Yeah!" Sorami agreed. "It's totally like the house in--"

"Uh, yeah!" Sasori cut her off, tired of her constant anime and manga references. "Erena showed it to me. Taemi and her should be waiting inside."

Sasori grinned, happy about being able to do this. He wanted the outing to be relaxing, unlike their usual outings.

"Seems small." Katamaru's words cut through the lighthearted mood like a sword.

Suddenly, the chill in the almost-winter air was evident again and they all had a feeling what was coming next.

First there was silence.

"Can you ever say anything useful?!" Kakuzu snapped; the silence shattered.

"Oh, I'm not useful?" Katamaru asked, in a humored tone. "How did that tracking device get in your possession again? I forget."

"You are so full of yourself."

"Yes, of course. _I'm_ the one with the pride issue."

"Why you little--!"

"You're bursting my eardrums!" Hidan cut across.

Silence befell the situation again.

Sasori grabbed Hidan's hand. "C'mon, let's go in."

Sasori and Hidan went ahead of everyone into the humble house.

A chill went through Kakuzu's body and an uneasiness he couldn't understand fell over him. His head filled with accusations toward Katamaru, who was within reach, and he felt the impulse to lash out at him. But then, a sudden realization hit him. It was because the usual playful jives from Hidan were becoming unadulterated hatred. For once, what was coming out of Hidan's mouth actually mattered.

_**A/N: Always, thanks for reading everyone! Oh, and for those who don't know, "sugoi" means "amazing" or "wow", usually used as the fomer. **_

**_~Katsuki Shizenno_**


	26. Chapter 26

_**I do not own Naruto but I DO own the all the OCs**_

Chapter 24: Feelings

The inside of the house was very welcoming. As soon as they walked inside the air became warm and sweet. The floors were wood in some rooms and tatami in the others. Sasori led them through the small foyer, past the kitchen, to the living room. In the living room sat a low, wooden table with crimson cushions around it. On two of the cushions sat Taemi and Erena.

"Okaeri-nasaimase," they both said in unison with a giggle.

Sasori gave them an approving smile, then he turned to the others. "So?"

"I like it," Hidan smiled.

"Yay!" Meiko cheered. "Meiko-chan gets to stay here tonight!"

She began doing a little dance around the room.

Sorami's eyes lit up, "It looks like--"

Sasori intentionally sighed as loud as possible to tell her to be quiet.

"I mean," Sorami fidgeted. "It looks like…something I've seen…on a fictional show."

"Improving," Hareta laughed. "It _is_ a nice place though, Sasori-kun. Don't you agree, _Tenko-chan_?"

Tenko turned away in a huff. "…It's fine, Sasori-kun."

Hareta and Suzuki burst into a fit of laughs.

"Oh, shut up!" Tenko snapped.

The girls continued laughing.

"Hmm," Katamaru said suddenly.

Everyone tensed; Suzuki and Hareta immediately stopped laughing and Kakuzu shot a warning glare at Katamaru.

"It seems," Katamaru gave Kakuzu a proud look. "That I misjudged. It is a rather nice place, Sasori."

"Um, thanks," Sasori replied. It came out almost sounding like a question.

"You're very welcome."

With this Katamaru simply sat down on one of the cushions at the table and began texting someone again.

Taemi raised an eyebrow.

"Just ignore him," Kakuzu said, simply.

Katamaru rolled his eyes; Taemi shrugged.

"Uh, should I be getting dinner ready?" Erena asked.

"Yeah," Sasori said. "That'll be fine, Erena-chan."

But all Sasori could think of was how annoyed he was getting. That was not usual. Katamaru and Kakuzu were putting a real toll on his emotions. He felt that if he heard one more thing out of one of their mouths, he was going to wring their…

Suddenly, the thumping sound of music interrupted his rather violent thoughts. He turned to see Sorami blasting the opening theme of _Pita-Ten_, "_Wake Up Angel ~Negaimashite ha Mugen Nari~"_ with Meiko's portable speakers. She'd hooked them up to her iPod.

Sasori grinned. Meiko and Sorami could sometimes be dense, but it benefited them in these types of situations.

Sasori simply sat down, listening to the song that was odd to him and noticed Sorami mouthing the lyrics as she danced around with Meiko.

"Wait a minute," a sudden realization Sasori. "Is this from some anime?"

"Yep," Sorami smiled.

"It's the theme of Pita-Ten," Meiko explained, as bubbly as ever.

"Oh," Sasori sighed. "No wonder I feel like twitching uncontrollably."

Sasori admired their ability to stay calm, and decided to use it to their advantage.

Once the song was over, Sasori turned to Sorami. "So you can actually buy anime themes?"

"Yeah!" Sorami grinned. "I have almost every anime-based soundtrack ever released!"

"Sasori-kun," Meiko said. "Surely you must have watched some anime."

"I do watch Black Lagoon," Sasori admitted.

"Oh!" Hidan jumped in. "I watch Black Lagoon."

"Black Lagoon owns," Hareta smiled.

"We prefer Gunslinger Girl," Akako and Kuromi grinned.

"Figures," Genmaru laughed.

And so the conversation continued. Sasori had accomplished what he was aiming for: a lighter mood. The success of he mission depended on minimum tension in the group. But Sasori noticed, as he observed, that Hidan, Kakuzu and Katamaru avoided talking to each other at all. He could tell Hidan and Kakuzu were on bad terms. He wasn't sure about Katamaru since he wasn't really talking to anyone except for adding a few opinions of his when he felt needed. Nonetheless, he could see the tension between them as a problem, overall. He needed to find away to fix it.

He calmly made his way over to Hidan. "Hey, Hidan."

"What?" Hidan got up from the cushion where he was sitting.

"Do you have a second?"

"Um, sure, I guess."

Sasori led Hidan to the hallway near the stairs.

"What's the matter, Sasori?" Hidan asked.

"Oh, nothing's wrong," Sasori replied. "It's just…"

Hidan looked at him expectantly.

Sasori exhaled hard. "Look, I know you and Kakuzu haven't been getting along--"

"Wait a moment," Hidan cut him off.

Sasori put his face in his hand. He knew this was coming.

"If this has to do with that idiot, I am not listening," Hidan said firmly.

"Hidan," Sasori looked up at him. "This is an important mission for every single one of us. If it doesn't go well we--and a lot of others--could really be hurt, even killed. I can easily take care of Katamaru by myself. I just want you to _try _to talk to Kakuzu."

Hidan stood in silence for a while and then looked up warily, "Fine."

Sasori smiled and threw his arms around Hidan's shoulders. "Thank you. I'm sure it'll work out fine."

Of course.

* * *

Later that night, some time after dinner, Hidan went upstairs to find Kakuzu with a plate of azuki shiratama Erena had just made. He found him in one of the bedrooms, meditating.

"I cannot believe I'm doing this," Hidan muttered to himself.

Well, there was no turning back now.

He began to approach. "Kakuzu?"

"Hmm?" Kakuzu turned to look. "Oh. It's you."

"Yeah…Kakuzu…are you still mad at Katamaru-kun?"

"Yes."

"Why? I mean, he may have a smart mouth but that's no different from almost everyone else we know. Akako-chan and Kuromi-chan are worse than him."

"I don't like him. He's caused too much trouble."

Hidan laughed, quietly.

"Aren't you being overprotective?" he asked.

"Overprotective?" Kakuzu stood up. "You must be joking."

"Um, no. I think what he did is basically in the past."

"Hidan!"

"Kakuzu! I never asked for you to treat me like I'm helpless!"

"_I_ never asked to have to take care of you at all!"

Hidan clenched his fists.

"What?!" he demanded.

"Listen. If you really want to know, I couldn't care less what happened to you or your child."

"Then you lied?"

"What are you talking about now?"

"Back when Shinzouko attacked us. You told me…ugh! Just forget it!"

Kakuzu looked Hidan straight in the eyes. Kakuzu eyes were lit with anger.

"Hidan," he said, never taking his line of sight off him. "So what if I did?"

"What?" Hidan was astonished.

"I mean, so what if I did lie to you? What does it matter?"

Around this moment Sasori was headed up the stairs, hearing that an argument had started. Suddenly, he heard a loud crash. Sasori ran to the door as fast as he could. He saw Kakuzu on one side of the room and Hidan closer to the door, trembling. Kakuzu had cuts and blood on his face, neck and left shoulder. Dumplings and anko were all over him and on the floor was a completely shattered bowl, that once held the azuki shiratama.

Hidan simply turned angrily and stormed down the hall.

Kakuzu wiped a dumpling of his shoulder; Sasori sighed.

"Can things just work around here for once?" he said.

Erena was soon at Sasori's side, and, seeing what had happened, left to follow Hidan.

Sasori turned to Kakuzu. "Kakuzu, what in the world happened?"

Kakuzu shrugged.

"What do you mean I don't know?" Sasori put his hands on his hips.

Kakuzu didn't respond.

"Look. I don't know what happened between you two but Hidan is just trying to make things better, not worse. Just think about that, okay?"

With this Sasori exited the room, leaving Kakuzu by himself.

He touched the cuts on his face. They stung a lot.

_That's odd._ He thought to himself_. It must be the anko._

Ironically, anko isn't acidic.

**_Thanks for reading everyone! ;D Azuki Shiratama is a Japanese dessert with dumplings made from rice flour in anko (a sweet paste/puree made from azuki beans). Okaeri-nasaimase means 'welcome home'. Erena and Taemi gigled since it wasn't really their home but used it to set a more comfortable setting. :) Seems it didn't do much good for a certain few characters, though. :\ Oh, BTW, I've never seen any of the anime I listed in this chapter. I just sought of browsed a few anime summaries by genre and matched them to some of the characters personalities. ^.^;_**


	27. Chapter 27

_**I do not own Naruto but I DO own the all the OCs**_

Chapter 25: Strawberries and New Friendship

It was around 9:00 p.m. Sasori was just walking to his room after making sure everything was in order. He was tired and still trying to find a way to fix all the tensions around. At the very moment he was feeling sorry he ever suggested a plan, now it was his responsibility. Regardless of his numerous problems, he decided to have Hidan stay in his own room with him instead of with Kakuzu. He decided putting them in the same room would just result in more problems, maybe even violence, and if, by any chance, Kakuzu or Hidan lost their minds, if Hidan was in his room he could just wring Kakuzu's neck--like he'd been wanting to--and save a riveting punishment for Hidan later on. He sighed to himself. He was becoming as sadistic as the both of them put together with all the emotional stress. He sighed once more before opening the door of his room to see Hidan sitting on his futon, staring blankly at the wall.

Sasori felt a slight twinge of anger towards Kakuzu but pushed the thought out of his mind. _One at a time._

He walked over to Hidan and knelt beside him. "Hey."

Hidan looked up, seemed slightly startled. He blinked. "Um, hi."

Sasori felt the gloom radiating from him and felt a pang of empathy. He laid his head against Hidan's, wrapped his arms around his shoulders and closed his eyes. He stayed like that for a while and then opened his eyes again. "Hidan."

"Nnn?" Hidan didn't move.

"What did he say to you?"

Hidan didn't answer at first.

"What does it matter?" he said, quietly.

"You won't tell me?" Sasori asked.

"If you think that me telling you is going to resolve any problems you'd better think again."

"No. That wasn't really my thought."

"Huh?"

"It's just that, most of the time I hate when something makes emotional problems for me. If I can get rid of your problems, half _my_ problems will be gone. That seems pretty fair, don't you think?"

"Y'know, it's really nothing."

"It doesn't seem that way."

"You guys do always say I tend to overreact."

Sasori looked at him skeptically.

"Fine," Sasori said, crossing his arms. "You can be that way tonight, since it's so late. But I'll get you to tell me sooner or later."

"Okay." Hidan shrugged and lay on his back. "'Night."

Sasori sighed but flicked off the lights. "Good night, Hidan. Don't let yourself be stubborn tomorrow."

"That's not the right expression."

"It is for you."

Sasori smiled to himself in the dark; Hidan ignored him.

Soon Hidan drifted to sleep. Sasori looked over at him, in the dim moonlight. He wondered about the odd color of his hair and eyes and wondered where it came from. He also wondered how much stress Hidan was under. Probably more than he led most on to think. Sasori decided he, himself, should quit complaining. Regardless, he was exhausted. Even though he didn't need it--considering he was a puppet and all--he decided to go to sleep. He lay back and drifted into a restful haze.

The next morning, Hidan and Kakuzu didn't talk to each other again, and practically ignored each other's presence. Everyone, besides Katamaru, of course, who barely paid any attention to anyone, was apprehensive to speak about it so they mostly lounged around the living room, doing separate activities, while Erena cooked breakfast.

Suddenly Erena cursed.

She came walking into the living room in a haste. "Strawberries."

"What?" Sasori looked at her puzzled.

"I need strawberries. There are some in the storeroom on side of the house. Can somebody hurry and get some? I'm gonna burn the food."

Meiko raised her hand high as if she was in class and called, "Ooh, ooh! Me, me, me!"

Erena smiled cordially. "Okay. Hurry up though."

"Alright!"

Meiko skipped happily out the door into the crisp, early winter air. She shivered a little and realized snow had fallen last night. Everything on the little dirt road and beside it were covered in a blanket of snow and frost. Icicles sparkled from the tree branches.

"It's so pretty," Meiko smiled. "Too bad the pretty flowers are gone. What was I doing? Oh! Strawberries!"

Meiko made her way to the little storeroom attached to the house. She opened the door and looked around. Food was everywhere. Some of it was store-bought so Meiko decided Erena must have gone shopping. Then she spotted the strawberries.

"Strawberries!" she cheered.

She went over and popped one in her mouth.

"They're sweet!" she smiled. "I could eat the whole container…Oh! I'd better get them back to Erena."

She grabbed the container and skipped out of the storeroom door out onto the white lawn. She was humming as she skipped.

"Oh," a voice said. "Those look good."

Meiko looked up to see three young women, around her age, on the snowy path. One had platinum-blonde hair and blue eyes and wore a black, long-sleeve, Gloomy Bear, v-neck shirt with jeans. The other two looked to be related, probably twin sisters, both had black hair and dark eyes, only one had short hair and wore an orange tank top, a jean jacket and a skirt paired with black tights and boots. The other had long hair that reached the small of her back and wore a blue dress with a tan coat paired with white knee high socks with tan boots. The latter was the one who had spoken.

Meiko smiled brightly at them. "They _are_ good!"

The girl with the long black hair walked up and looked at the strawberries.

"Ah," she said. "Imported, hmm?"

She sighed.

"I wish it was spring," she said. "How ironic. I guess my parents knew what they were doing when they named me Haru. I hate the cold."

"Same here," her sister said. "I love the fall and my parents named me Aki. I hate the heat."

Both the sisters laughed and the other girl smiled.

"It is very pretty out here," Meiko remarked. "Why do you wish it was spring, Haru-san?"

"Oh," Haru's eyes widened. "I'm so sorry. That was so rude of me to say. It's just that when I saw the strawberries I thought of the ones that grow beside this house. They'll begin to sprout around January but they won't be ready until around March. Plus the spring is so much warmer. It's so cold now."

"Hmm, well I can't make it warmer but maybe you can ask Erena-chan to let you have some strawberries. She's my friend's maid."

"Cool. Lead the way," Aki smiled.

"Aki!" Haru scolded. "We wouldn't want to intrude."

"It's no problem," Meiko said, kindly.

"Well, okay…if you're _sure_."

Meanwhile, Erena was getting impatient.

She growled. "The shed is right outside. What is she _doing_?"

Suddenly, Erena heard the front door open. "I'm back!"

"Thank you," she walked out into the kitchen but then her jaw dropped when she saw the three young woman in the living room. Mostly everyone else was gaping too.

"Um, Meiko," Erena said, trying to understand. "What's going on?"

"Oh! Oh!" Meiko bounced. "I was getting the strawberries and I met these girls. They said they wanted strawberries so I invited them in for breakfast."

Erena gave her a severe look.

Meiko shrank down. "I just thought…it was okay..."

Erena glanced hastily at Sasori who quickly mouthed, "It's okay. She didn't know."

"Uh, okay," Erena said, trying to smile. "Well, this is a surprise."

"I'm sorry if we're causing any trouble," Haru said, apologetically. "We could go."

"No. It's okay. It's just, I need to make more pancakes. And more of everything else. But don't worry about it."

With this Erena left with the strawberries to finish cooking.

Everyone else left in the living room besides Meiko looked inquisitively towards their visitors.

"Hello," Haru smiled cordially. "I'm Haru."

"I'm her twin sister, Aki," Aki waved casually.

"I'm Aiko," the platinum-blonde girl smiled and wiggled her fingers. "Hi."

Everyone, quietly, with unsureness, returned their greetings.

Sasori was glad Meiko found some new friends, but he was upset that he had more interference in the original plan. If these girls saw a witch or found out any more information, who knew what would happen. They'd have to be extra careful during their visit and hope no witch decided to appear now. Hopefully, luck was on their side…like it usually wasn't.

**_A/N: Thanks, as always, for returning to read. Gloomy Bear, is a popular character in Japan (such as Hello Kitty, only not so happy, as his name suggests). If you're wondering what Erena wanted strawberries for, it was to put on the pancakes. Yummy! X) "Haru" means "spring" and "Aki" means "autumn". "Aiko" is 'love child'. Oh, and, yes, Meiko is that ditzy. LOL! ;)_**


	28. Chapter 28

_**I do not own Naruto but I DO own the all the OCs**_

Chapter 26: Life and Depression

The girls had stayed around for a few hours, talking about how surprised they were to see someone taking care of the house. They had known the owner as young children and had tried to take care of the house after he'd passed on. They hadn't had the time to come back to it much since they had graduated. Between work, family and friends they hadn't the time except for maybe once a month so they were grateful for their new-found friends. Since they had the following few days off, Haru asked if she could come back to check on the potatoes growing behind the house. She loved gardening and nature. Sasori reluctantly agreed, trying not to arise any suspicion. Regardless of the visitors, Hidan and Kakuzu never talked to one another. Katamaru's pompous manner just caused more tension and some scowling from Kakuzu. Later that night, everyone was tired from all the stress and went to their beds early. Sasori tried to pry some answers out of Hidan but Hidan used being tired as an excuse. He had the same gloomy aura. Sasori decided to let Hidan sleep since he, himself was so tired. He immediately decided to sleep and was unconscious in seconds.

Sasori was sleeping peacefully, when suddenly, he heard a shutting sound. He opened his eyes and sat up. He looked around the room and found Hidan was missing. He got to his feet hastily, scanning the room. Kakuzu flashed in his mind. What did he do now? Just then Sasori heard the sound of running water. Hidan was just in the bathroom. Sasori sat back down, laughing slightly at his absurdity, and waited for Hidan to return.  
When Hidan did return, Sasori was startled. Hidan's wine-colored eyes had lost their bright color and were now a dull shade of purple and he seemed to be distant, looking somewhere else far off.  
"Hidan?" Sasori got up to meet him.  
"Nnn?" Hidan asked dryly.  
"Are you feeling okay?"  
"Yeah, I guess."  
Sasori could feel the same gloomy aura radiating from his body only stronger than the two previous nights. He looked full of despair. He looked saddened.  
Sasori stared intensely at him. "There's something wrong."  
"I'm okay," Hidan lied again.  
Sasori put his arms around him. "It's okay. Don't be sad. I'll fix this, okay?"  
Hidan nodded.  
Everyone noticed the change in Hidan but Sasori told everyone not to say anything. He added a warning glare for Kakuzu.  
Mostly Hidan just stared out the window or into oblivion, the same expression on his face. Sasori knew there was something wrong and he had to fix it. He had never seen Hidan like this.  
Later that day, sometime after lunch, Haru, Aki and Aiko came back, as discussed the previous evening. Haru contentedly tended to the potato plants behind the house while Aki and Aiko chatted with those inside who were willing to talk. Sasori and Erena closely watched everyone to make sure no one slipped. Taemi made sure Kakuzu was in line. Hidan barely spoke at all. When he did he seemed preoccupied and there was a bleak tone to his voice.  
Sasori watched him especially close. Of course, their female guests noticed Hidan and Sasori's odd behavior, and asked about Hidan before they left. Sasori simply said Hidan was tired; that he had insomnia. The three girls bought it completely and Haru suggested he drink chamomile tea. With this they left, and the house was basically quiet. The same routine continued for a few days, the girls showing up almost daily and Hidan getting more depressed by the day, his eyes becoming a dim, gloomy lavender. He didn't even talk anymore.  
"I'm sorry if we're a burden to you," Haru apologized one afternoon, possibly sensing the stress in Sasori's voice, despite the fact he tried to stay polite and smiling, or Hidan's increasing gloom.  
"Don't worry," Sasori reassured her. "It's fine."  
"Well, you won't be seeing us anymore, sadly," Aiko said, in her sweet voice. "Work is getting too hectic for us to return much anymore. You probably won't see us for _at least_ a week."  
"You can always come back you know," Sasori reassured her. "We probably will be leaving soon too. We have only a small amount of vacation days to use ourselves."  
"Ah. Life is hard, isn't it."  
"Truly."

They had no idea.  
Later that night Sasori felt like he had a headache, though it was impossible for a puppet. Nothing was going according to plan. No witches, three girls who kept showing up, and then there was the entire Kakuzu-Hidan-Katamaru problem. He walked angrily to his room. Hidan had already gone to bed. If only things could be easier. Sasori plopped down on his futon and sighed loudly. He heard a stirring from Hidan's futon.  
Sasori looked over towards the futon. "Hidan? Are you still awake?"  
Hidan simply moved the covers over his face.  
Sasori smirked. "If you're are awake, which is basically obvious, would you like to talk? Maybe about what's bothering you?"  
Hidan was silent.  
"Hidan. You don't have to be so stubborn. You're basically just hurting yourself. Well, wait. That may not be totally true since all this emotional stress can't be good for your baby so…why don't you just talk about it."  
Hidan turned away from Sasori, not saying a word.  
Sasori clenched his fist. "You don't have to be disagreeable, y'know. Ugh. You are driving me crazy!"  
Hidan tensed.  
Sasori was, again, flooded with guilt.  
"I'm sorry," Sasori said and then sighed quietly. "I need a vacation."  
He cast a smile in Hidan's direction, finding what he had said funny, but Hidan was in the same position: on his side, facing away from Sasori.  
Sasori went over to him and pulled the covers off his face. "Surely you must be hot under there…You really don't want to talk about it."  
Sasori put his hand lightly on Hidan's cheek; Hidan pushed it away, quickly.  
"C'mon, Hidan," Sasori said, kindly. "You can't--"  
He stopped abruptly, noticing moisture on his hand. He looked at his hand and then his eyes wandered back to Hidan's face. Using the moonlight to his aid, he saw traces of moisture, from his eyes.  
Sasori blinked in surprised, but the he said in an accusing tone, "Hidan. How long have you been crying?"  
Hidan shook his head in denial but the tears seemed to betray his intentions.  
"Hidan," Sasori exhaled hard. "What are you not telling me about? What's going on? Please tell me. It's...scary to see you this way."  
Suddenly, a knock interrupted him.  
"Hold on," he said, as he walked towards the door.  
He was surprised to see Fuyumi at the door with a worried face.  
"What wrong?" he asked, shutting the door behind him.  
"It may be nothing, really," Fuyumi said, kindly. "It's just, I touched Hidan-kun today--you know how I do palm readings and deal with the paranormal--well, I felt an extreme amount of dark energy emitting from him."  
"Oh? Do you think it means something?"  
"I don't know. Did he come in contact with anything of evil magical qualities? Maybe even a black cat."  
Sasori looked at her skeptically. "A black cat?"  
"Seriously, Sasori-kun."  
"Okay, alright…not that I know of."  
"Well, we should keep a close eye on--"  
Suddenly, a weak, strangled cry and the sound of breaking glass came from the bedroom.  
Sasori whipped around and threw open the door. Both Fuyumi and Sasori were appalled and surprised to see what, and who, they saw.

_**A/N: Cliffhanger. ;P Thanks for reading everyone. :) As you can tell, things are going really wrong with everyone. Keep reading to find out how it works out. v(^.^)**_


	29. Chapter 29

_**I do not own Naruto but I DO own the all the OCs**_

Chapter 26: Pain of the Heart

Hidan was on his futon, struggling against Aki's grasp. Her small hands clutched his face firmly, unmoving as he tried to pry them off. Another strangled cry escaped him but Aki just laughed, her eyes glowing. Haru stood beside her, laughing as well. A creepy, sinister grin was on both of their faces.  
"Aki-san?!" Sasori was astonished. "Haru-san?!"  
They both smiled at him. "You'd never suspect two girls you've never met before."  
Haru raised her hands in the air and the girls' entire appearance changed. A pair of boots with buckles replaced both of their pairs of shoes. Each of them now wore a short dress full of frills. Aki's was black and Haru's was red. Also, their hair had changed. Aki's was short and blond while Haru's was long and brunette. Their eyes were a malevolent burgundy, bloodthirsty and evil.  
The two girls cackled. "We are dangerous witches numbers four and five, the dangerous witch twins, Kanjou"--the girl who was known to be Haru pointed to herself--"and Seishin!" The girl who was known as Aki grinned evilly.  
"Dangerous witches four and five?" Sasori wondered aloud. "If Shinzouko is number two then who's number three?"  
Sasori pulled a puppet summoning scroll out of his pocket. It didn't matter. All that mattered was that those two died.  
Kanjou waved her finger. "I wouldn't do that if I were you. You could make a mistake."  
Sasori froze. This could not be happening. He had no idea what their powers were yet. Could Kanjou alter the trajectory of attacks? What was Seishin doing to Hidan?  
He turned to Fuyumi. "Fuyumi-chan, what's going on?"  
Fuyumi looked intently at the two witches for a second and turned back to Sasori. "There seems to be a transfer of--"  
Suddenly, Fuyumi fell to the floor with a gasp, grasping her head.  
Sasori's eyes darted to Seishin, who had lifted one hand off Hidan's head and had extended it towards Fuyumi.  
Sasori bent over Fuyumi. She was still breathing. Good, she was alive, but out cold.  
What had just happened?  
Sasori took a step forward.  
He had no choice. He was going to have to use taijutsu.  
Sasori pulled out a kunai and ran towards Seishin and Kanjou.  
He successfully knocked Seishin to the ground. Suddenly something sent Sasori flying to the other side of the room. Kanjou had kicked him.  
Hidan sat up. "Sasori! Watch out!"  
Kanjou waved her hands in the air. Hearts began to circle them.  
"Hearts?" Sasori asked, in disbelief. "You have got to be kidding m--"  
One of the hearts hit Sasori and it actually hurt!  
Sasori grabbed his arm in agony.  
He looked at it in confusion. "What…?"  
Kanjou cackled. "It hurts, doesn't it, puppet boy?"  
"How?"  
"These hearts are unpredictable. They change depending on the person they are used on. They use the power of your very own heart to cause pain. That's why you can still feel it. You have a heart, don't you, puppet-boy? And I'm the only one who can use them."  
Kanjou cackled again.  
Sasori's eyes darted around the room, trying to come up with a solution to the problem.  
Hidan moved towards Sasori, his eyes wide. He was staring at Sasori's arm in bewilderment and shock. Seishin jumped forward and put him on the ground. She grasped his neck.  
Hidan squirmed. "Let go!"  
Seishin growled and squeezed his neck harder.  
Sasori tried to stab Seishin but Kanjou blocked it.  
"You're fighting me," Kanjou said. "Remember, puppet-boy?"  
"Sasori," Hidan croaked.  
Seishin grasped Hidan's face again. "Shut up!" Seishin was half-smothering Hidan now.  
Suddenly, a gasp came from the door.  
Everyone turned to see Tenko, Erena and Taemi at the door.  
"Oh look," Seishin smirked, not moving her hands from Hidan's face. "His lace-clad girlfriend is here."  
Kanjou laughed and hit Sasori with a bombardment of hearts.  
"Sasori-sama!" Erena pulled out a gun and aimed it at Kanjou. "Don't you make another move!"  
Tenko followed, pulling out her gun and aiming it at Seishin; Taemi put her hand on her dagger while bending down next to Fuyumi.  
"Go ahead," Kanjou smiled. "Shoot. I dare you."  
"Oh, I'm gonna shoot alright," Tenko said.  
"Wait!" Sasori slowly forced himself to his feet. "She's too confident."  
"So what do I do, Sasori?!"  
Kanjou could be bluffing, but she had also said her magic was unpredictable.  
Sasori cursed.  
He had no idea.

**_A/N: As usual, thanks for reading guys! :) Sorry for cutting it short, but if I combined this chapter and the next it would be WAY to long to even call a chapter. Keep coming back. ;D I've also started a series of side-stories for this, titled "The Days That Past" and I'll try to release chapters at the same time as these. Please read people! ;) _**


	30. Chapter 30

_**I do not own Naruto but I DO own the all the OCs**_

Kakuzu awoke after hearing a loud thump.  
He sat up in his bed.  
What was that noise coming from?  
He got to his feet and saw something out the corner of his eye. He whipped around.  
Aiko was standing by the window. Her platinum blonde hair shimmered in the moonlight and her blue eyes shined.  
"Hi, Kakuzu-kun," she smiled.  
"Aiko-san?" Kakuzu was surprised. "How did you get in here?"  
"Does it matter?"  
She walked closer to him.  
She giggled but it had a malevolent tinge to it.  
Kakuzu felt a foreboding feeling emitting from her body. It seemed so familiar…  
Suddenly, Aiko's platinum blonde hair turned to a familiar, icy, bluish-white and her eyes turned ice-blue. Her dress changed into the black, witch's dress Kakuzu knew well. Standing before him was Shinzouko.  
Kakuzu's mind raced. He had seen her die. How was she standing in front of him? Was this an illusion?  
"Who are you?" Kakuzu asked.  
"You don't remember me?" Shinzouko asked, flirtatiously. "That hurts."  
"Why are you alive?"  
"Who said I had died?"  
Kakuzu growled. He hated Shinzouko more than any other witch he had met.  
Shinzouko gave a quiet "eep" when Kakuzu swung his fist at her.  
"Hey now," she said. "Why revert to such violence? You want to know more about us? I can tell you."  
Kakuzu studied Shinzouko. "What's the catch?"  
Shinzouko practically threw herself into him and put her thin arms around his neck; she looked into his eyes. "To love me, of course. Let's talk about us. The you and me us."  
"As much as I hate you, it's going to take a lot to get me to love you."  
"I knew you'd say that. Oh well. Maybe next time."  
Shinzouko stepped back.  
"Since you're not going to love me, I'm going to have to prevent you from helping your friends," she raised her hands in the air. "Dark Lightning Barrier!"  
Kakuzu could see electricity lining the walls, windows and doors of the house.  
Shinzouko smiled satisfied with her work.  
Suddenly and shriek was heard and Meiko fell into the room.  
Kakuzu stared in bewilderment. This was odd.  
Genmaru, Nobuyuki, Yumi and Sorami peeped in behind her.  
"Oh!" Sorami gasped, pointing at Shinzouko. "The witch with the blue hair!"  
Shinzouko looked aggravated. "I'm not 'the witch with the blue hair'. It's Shinzouko."  
"We don't really care," Yumi deadpanned.  
"You had better!"  
Yumi shrugged. "The fact that you're practically holding us hostage with all this electricity is more to worry about than what your name is."  
Suddenly Meiko's phone beeped.  
"A text!" Meiko smiled.  
"Meiko-chan!" Genmaru scolded. "This is not the time for text-!"  
"It's from Tenko-chan! She says she, Erena-chan, Taemi-chan, Sasori-kun and Hidan-kun are being held hostage!"  
"Hostage?" Kakuzu turned swiftly to look at Meiko. "By who?"  
"Ah," Shinzouko said. "Seems Kanjou and Seishin are halfway through the plan."  
"Plan?" Genmaru eyed Shinzouko.  
Shinzouko cackled. "If I told you it wouldn't matter. I have electric force fields everywhere. Your feminine friend over there said it himself."  
"Shinzouko," Kakuzu growled. "You had better tell us what's going on or-"  
"If you want to know, you have to disable my magic."  
"I'm thinking she controls her magic with with her own magic source, like you, Sasori-kun and Hidan-kun's jutsus," Nobuyuki said. "In the world of ninjas, when you defeat the user of the jutsu, the jutsu is broken, right? So if we defeat her…"  
"The effects of the magic are broken!" Sorami grinned. "Ooh! This is so like volume 3 of…never mind."  
Meiko threw a nearby vase at Shinzouko. It caught her by surprise and smashed into her left arm.  
"Was that good?" Meiko asked.  
Shinzouko growled. "You little-!"  
"Eep!" Meiko hid behind Genmaru.  
Everyone gave a look of annoyance.  
"Let's try this again," Nobuyuki said.  
He formed a ball of energy and shot it at Shinzouko.  
This time Shinzouko readily blocked it.  
Genmaru grabbed a chair and whacked her with it.  
Shinzouko got up, red-faced. "You hit me, with a _chair_?"  
Genmaru swung at her again; Yumi swung a kick at her.  
"I know I'm supposed to be courteous to ladies," Genmaru smirked. "But you're a witch."  
"Ha!" Shinzouko shot a blast of electricity at the boys.  
Genmaru and Yumi barely dodged.  
Shinzouko smirked.  
"Lighten up a little!" she laughed as the shot electricity in random places.  
Kakuzu dodged easily and punched her.  
Shinzouko flew backwards; Shinzouko got up, but she looked weakened.  
Kakuzu smirked. He was just going to have to pound it out of her.  
Shinzouko saw the look in his eyes and immediately and ran to get out the way.  
Kakuzu hit the wall, instead, shocking himself.  
"Kakuzu-kun!" Meiko and Sorami shrieked. "Oh-no!"  
"I'm fine," Kakuzu locked eyes with Shinzouko again.  
"Keep trying," she grinned.  
Kakuzu wanted to just go all out on her, but the house was very old; if he was too reckless the house would come down on all of them. Why did those witches always catch them in the wrong places?  
"What are you doing," a voice suddenly asked.  
Kakuzu and the others turned to see Katamaru in the doorway.  
"Katamaru-kun," Meiko said. "When did you get here?"  
"I've been watching," he said.  
"And not doing anything?" Genmaru asked.  
"I don't understand your thoughts," Katamaru said. "Why try so hard?"  
"Katamaru!" Kakuzu snapped. "I don't have time for-forget it!" Kakuzu went after Shinzouko again.  
"Katamaru-kun," Sorami grabbed his arm. "I think…that Kakuzu-kun doesn't have a lot of thing that are important to him. But, maybe Hidan-kun and Sasori-kun and Taemi-chan and Erena-chan…I think he cares about them. A lot, and so, that's why he wants to beat her so much."  
"This is the first time we've had friends too, Katamaru-kun," Genmaru said.  
Meiko looked at Katamaru. "Don't you have anything important to you?" Meiko asked. "Are you alone, Katamaru-kun?"  
Katamaru pulled out his cell phone and started texting.  
"Honestly!" Genmaru yelled. "What is wrong with y-"  
"Just trust me!" Katamaru snapped.

* * *

The house had been separated by force fields in three places. Outside of Sasori's room, between Kakuzu's and Genmaru, Nobyuki and Yumi's room and between Izuno's room and the stairs. Downstairs it was separated in the same way so the kitchen was separated from the living room and the living room was separated into two parts. Therefore Hareta, Suzuki, Izuno, Akako and Kuromi were shut off from everyone else. They could tell there was something going on from all the crashes they could hear, but were powerless to do anything.  
"What do we do?" Suzuki asked.  
Suddenly, Izuno's phone beeped.  
Izuno glanced at it. It was a text from Katamaru. He pondered it for a second, and then, realizing there was nothing more he could do, he opened it.  
There were only four words: _There's always a loophole_.  
At that moment, Izuno stood.  
"Izuno-kun?" Hareta looked at him inquiringly.  
Izuno grinned at her. "'There's always a loophole.'"  
He started pacing; the others watched intently. Then Izuno snapped his fingers and hurried to the kitchen-the only room they had access to besides theirs-and grabbed a fork.  
"A freakin' fork?" Akako asked.  
Izuno threw it at the force field and then smiled. "Exactly."  
"Exactly what?" Suzuki asked.  
"Electricity is attracted to metal. I may be able to divert the flow of electricity, literally creating a loophole that you guys can jump through."  
"Seriously?" Hareta asked.  
Izuno gathered and slid many metal objects into one area of the force field. Sure enough, the flow of electricity was diverting.  
"Go upstairs," Izuno instructed. "A gap should appear somewhere in the force field separating hall upstairs."  
Hareta, Suzuki, Akako and Kuromi obeyed. They hurried up the stairs and sure enough, a minute later, a hole appeared.  
Kuromi coolly stepped up and leaped through. Akako followed and then Hareta and Suzuki as well. They hurried down the hall. Unfortunently, Sasori and Hidan's room was still blocked off.  
Kuromi glanced at that fact and then barged into Kakuzu's room. Once again, the other girls had no choice but to follow.  
Everyone in the room, except Katamaru, turned, surprised.  
"Guys?" Genmaru was astonished.  
"Heh," Katamaru smirked. "I knew Izuno-kun could do it."  
"You called him?" Hareta asked.  
"Don't be so surprised."  
Hareta rolled her eyes but Genmaru just grinned at Katamaru.  
Katamaru gave a half-smile back but then switched back to being serious.  
"We're in a little predicament, if you can't already tell," Katamaru said.  
Kuromi nodded and shot at Shinzouko, shooting her in the right arm.  
"Gah!" Shinzouko slumped to the floor in pain.  
Kuromi cursed.  
Kakuzu whipped around. "Kuromi-chan?"  
"I was aiming for her heart, actually," she said.  
Kakuzu grinned.  
Hareta kicked Shinzouko in the stomach. "Let's try this again, shall we?"  
Kakuzu grabbed Shinzouko by her neck; Shinzouko cursed, hoarsly.  
Kakuzu grinned evilly at Shinzouko. "Let's."

* * *

**_Super Special A/N:_**

**_Hello! :) Shinzouko is quite the annoyance, am I right? But she's supposed to be. I made her like that. XD So, good news, I finally updated the side fic series for this fic and I'd be glad if you guys could review it. ;) It's called, "The Days That Past". Also, I believe this fic will be coming to an end soon. That's saddening for me because this is really enjoyable to write. But who knows, I'm planning a sequal. If only writers block wouldn't get in the way. But we'll see. X) And last, but not least, I'd like to thank J-chan (Kakashi Forever) and Gothic (gothicangel0827) for reading so far. Doumo arigato, guys! And I also hope Kumi (Kumi Akatmatsu Moonstone), Icebane-chan (Icebane Alchemist), Ruby-chan (Ruby5602), Xx-kun (XxlovepainxX), Ai-chan (Inu17), Sapphire-chan (Sapphire X Dreams) and Magenta-chan (Magenta of the Shadows) will keep R&R-ing. Arigato gozaimasu everyone! (Yeah, I know that list was long. XD)_**

**_~Katsuki Shizenno_**


	31. Chapter 31

**_I do not own Naruto but I DO own all of the OCs and this fanfiction._**

Chapter 31: Danger, Pain and Name Games

Sasori could do nothing but wince as Tenko hit the floor next to him.

Tenko steadied herself, and got up to her feet beside him, breathing heavily. Her indigo eyes were fixed on Kanjou who was rather pleased with herself.

Seishin was now sitting calmly next to Hidan, who was barely conscious. Much time had passed since the twin witches had first ambushed them. Kanjou's unpredictable magic had left Tenko and Sasori with no choice but to fight hand to hand with Kanjou but despite her smaller frame, she was no weakling. Fuyumi was out cold and Taemi was tending to her while Erena was looking for a opening to grab Hidan from Seishin. They had all noticed that the entire section of the house they were in had been blocked off by electricity and could hear crashes from other parts of the house. They assumed that the others were also under attack, most likely by Shinzouko. They were facing the serious reality of being at the wrong place at the wrong time. Although, the witches partially forced them into their position. Plus they probably planned the entire ambush out.

_Okay._ Sasori said mentally. _This is basically their fault. But this is still a very bad position to be in._

Kanjou grinned and began to approach Sasori and Tenko. "You're quite fun to play with."

"Shut up," Sasori hissed.

Suddenly, the electric barrier faltered. Once. Twice. Then it completely dissipated.

"What the-?" Seishin looked around, alert.

Kanjou looked around as well.

"The barrier?" Taemi said.

Then a bang was heard and a bullet hit the wall next to Seishin.

Seishin tensed.

Kanjou scowled as Akako, Kuromi and Kakuzu stepped into the room.

Akako cursed. "Kuromi, you missed again."

"I know," Kuromi returned, calmly. "I don't plan to miss again."

Kuromi aimed her gun.

Seishin stepped forward.

"Wait, imouto-chan," Kanjou said. "We have the advantage now. Let's not ruin it."

Seishin stepped back. "Okay."

Erena was still watching Seishin carefully. She needed to get to Hidan. Kanjou scanned the situation and got in a battle stance, turning her attention away from Sasori and Tenko.

"Now," she said, raising her wand. "Let's play."

Kanjou was in the perfect position so Akako and Kuromi fired their guns, but Kanjou easily dodged.

Kanjou laughed. "Ha! What lose-Whoa!"

Kanjou jumped as Kakuzu just barely missed hitting her with his fist.

Kakuzu continued his rapid punches but Kanjou had no problem dodging them.

Sasori was confused. He could tell Kakuzu was holding back. He also never moved from where he was standing.

He threw a punch directly at Kanjou and she flipped out of the way as many other times before, laughing.

"What a laugh," she smiled. "You should actually try to hit me."

Kakuzu smirked. "As if it mattered."

Everyone was puzzled to hear this comment but then Kakuzu sent a resounding punch right into Seishin.

Kanjou gasped as her sister slumped to the ground.

It all made sense now. Kakuzu was distracting the witches so he could get a clear shot at Seishin, without hitting Hidan.

Then Kakuzu picked Seishin up and hurled her to the other side of the room.

Sasori saw an opening at that moment and quickly ran and grabbed Hidan before anyone had a chance to think.

Kanjou growled, moving over to her sister.

A deafening crack was heard as Erena shot Kanjou in the side with her gun.

Kanjou fell with a thud beside Seishin, who was wearily trying to stand.

Just then Genmaru and the others entered the room, with Nobuyuki carrying a bloody, unconscious Shinzouko.

Nobuyuki threw Shinzouko beside the twin witches.

"You guys really had this one coming," Erena hissed.

At that moment, a cloaked woman appeared in front of the witches.

"Well done," she congratulated Kakuzu and the others. "I look forward to fighting you."

Then she and the three witches disappeared in a flash of light.

* * *

Genmaru breathed a sigh of relief. "Good thing we defeated Shinzouko when we did."

"Don't get a big head," Tenko smiled.

Fuyumi was finally getting up from passing out, abruptly, before.

Meiko kneeled next to Erena and Sasori who were tending to Hidan.

"Is Hidan-kun okay?" Meiko asked, softly.

"I don't know," Erena said. "He's fine physically but I still don't know what Kanjou and Seishin were doing to him."

Kakuzu came up behind Sasori. "Did you see anything that they did to him?"

Sasori rose and turned to Kakuzu.

Then, he punched him, right across the face.

Everyone gaped in surprise.

"S-Sasori-sama?" Erena stared wide-eyed, "Why did you…?"

Kakuzu stumbled back a step, taken off guard, but quickly regained his composure. His eyes stared at Sasori, angrily.

"What is your problem?" he growled.

"_My_ problem?" Sasori almost seemed humored, then his face hardened. "Look at yourself! This entire ordeal is your own [censored] fault!"

"My fault? Did those witches mess with your head?"

"Don't push it."

Kakuzu shook his head. "How is this my fault, Sasori. I'm dying to know."

"Didn't you notice it?" Sasori asked. "Hidan's odd behavior started after you started fighting with him."

"Katamaru was the-"

"Don't even try to blame this on him. I noticed it right after you fought with him. Not when Katamaru and you were fighting. There is a connection between you, his behavior and those witches!"

Kakuzu gave Sasori a furious glare and the stormed out the room.

Sasori shook his head.

He knew there was a connection, undoubtedly. But how?

**_A/N: Yatta! I finally updated! =v= I think I've finally rid myself of my writer's block. In the next few chapters you'll finally get some answers so stick with me. I'm really trying to make this good to the end and if you have any ideas for this fic OR it's side fic PM me. Oh, and pics of Kanjou and Seishin have now been added to the character guide near the bottom of my profile. So, thanks for reading everyone. ;)_**


	32. Chapter 32

**_I do not own Naruto but I DO own all of the OCs and this fanfiction._**

Chapter 32: A Snow-Covered Afternoon

Light streamed into the windows of-not the house- but, Katamaru's limo. Katamaru offered his friends a ride in his multipurpose Hummer/limo with air-conditioning, a built-in fridge and a surround-sound stereo system. Of course, that had practically no effect. It seemed like the same cloud was hovering as usual, but had it even stormed yet?

Hidan-who was now awake-was still trying to figure out what had gone on. He remembered the witches, Kanjou and Seishin, being held hostage and all the fighting and finally blackng out only to wake up and see everyone packing. He didn't even know if the mission was accomplished, and no one was telling him anything which slightly frustrated him.

Katamaru didn't seem to care and was texting away on his phone. Hidan looked at him and Katamaru glanced up from his phone. Katamaru sighed and started texting again. Suddenly Hidan heard a bing from his cell. He picked it up to see a text from Katamaru. Katamaru, who was sitting right next to him.

Hidan read it anyway.

"Tlk 2 Kakuzu," was written.

Hidan looked at him questioningly.

Katamaru just nodded his head in Kakuzu's direction.

Hidan shrugged, "Kakuzu."

"Talk to Sasori," Kakuzu said, without a glance.

Sasori glared.

Katamaru look annoyed.

"Oh seriously?" he grumbled.

"He's right," Tenko said. "You didn't even let him say anything...eh!-not that I care!"

"I was just gonna ask if we finished the mission," Hidan muttered.

Kakuzu and Sasori's eyes widened as if they'd had a sudden revelation.

"You forgot about the mission?" Hidan asked, incredulously.

Kakuzu and Sasori did nothing but glare at each other.

"This is your fault," Sasori said, through gritted teeth.

"Again with the name games, Sasori?" Kakuzu shot back.

"Guys," Katamaru said.

"What?" they snapped.

"Do you really think I just spent the entire time watching?" Katamaru said, simply.

Tenko's eyes widened. "You mean you planted the-?"

"Don't look at me in such an unbelieving way. Yes, I planted the tracking device."

Yumi's eyes brightened and he turned to Genmaru. "Wow! Genmaru-chan, you must be some kind of psychologist or something!"

Genmaru blushed. "I didn't do anything."

"Yes you did," Meiko smiled. "You helped make Katamaru-kun a good guy!"

"I wasn't a bad guy," Katamaru sighed, irritated.

"What matters is that we're tracking them, right?" Genmaru asked.

"Right," Akako agreed. "Kuromi still missed last time."

"I won't miss," Kuromi said coolly.

"I can link this up when I get home," Katamaru said.

He glanced at Kakuzu and Sasori, who were completely silent and ignoring their surroundings. Then he laid his head back and let himself fall into his thoughts while Meiko chattered along preoccupying the others.

* * *

A day later, nothing seemed very different. Except for the slight disruption between Sasori and Kakuzu and the fact that some details about the battle were, for some reason, being kept on the down low. Hidan had asked about it before but no one would really talk to him about it; even Erena always made some excuse about why she couldn't talk at the time and Taemi was quiet anyway so getting her to talk was a feat on it's own. Hidan was the persistent type though, and he hated being in the dark when everyone else wasn't. He bet even the witches knew and that thought really ticked him off. So, the only other options were to go ask Sasori or Kakuzu directly. He thought about it for a moment. He was already on Kakuzu's bad side-that is, even more than usual-so Sasori would be the likely candidate. He stopped short. But that meant he might get on Sasori's bad side. He rethought it for a second and decided to go find Kakuzu instead. At least if Kakuzu got mad, Sasori would actually let him in the house; if he got Sasori mad...well between Sasori and Kakuzu, he might be sleeping outside.

After thinking that through, he noticed that Kakuzu had just gone out the door. He decided to follow him. He grabbed his coat and scarf and tailed Kakuzu out into the snow. It was sunny, but still cold and snow blanketed the ground in a sparkling sheet. He followed Kakuzu to the park. Hidan had always liked the park here, although he'd never tell anyone. He liked to observe the seasons. Like, now, in the winter, the trees hung with beautiful icicles and it's branches were laced with snow.

_Like whipped cream_. Hidan thought and then laughed aloud.

That made Kakuzu stop short.

Hidan cursed and the covered his mouth quickly, realizing he said something else.

Kakuzu turned around and glared.

Hidan moved forward. "Um, hi Kakuzu."

Kakuzu smacked himself in the forehead. "Honestly?"

"It's funny seeing you here," Hidan continued, trying to make it look like it was by mistake. "I was just walking and-"

"Why are you following me, Hidan?"

"I wasn't."

"How stupid do you take me for?"

"Am I that bad at acting?"

"Really, very."

With this he turned and started walking again.

Hidan felt annoyed. So, he did what he knew he shouldn't, and started following him again, maybe to ask his question but mostly just to piss Kakuzu off.

It didn't take long.

In less than a minute, Kakuzu turned around, exasperated. "What are you doing?"

"Following you," Hidan said, matter-of-factly. "What does it look like I'm doing?"

"Let me rephrase that," Kakuzu growled. "Why are you following me?"

"I came to ask you a question."

"You could've waited until I got home."

"No."

"Why not?"

"'Cause I'm bored! No one talks to me at home."

Kakuzu cocked a brow. "You could have waited."

"But what'd I miss? I wake up after being knocked out and all of a sudden you and Sasori won't talk to each other. And no one will talk to me. I hate not knowing stuff!"

"It's nothing to worry about, Hidan."

"But Kaku-"

A sudden beeping noise cut him off.

He flipped open his phone and then his eyes widened.

"What?" Hidan asked.

"Katamaru installed the tracking device counterpart on my phone," Kakuzu explained.

"So, you're excited about that?"

"No, the beeping means it's picking up something in this area. That means-"

"There's witches in the park?"

"Shh!" Kakuzu covered Hidan's mouth.

Kakuzu looked around as if he was pondering something.

Hidan studied his face. He wondered what he was thinking about. He looked slightly frustrated. The he turned and started walking again.

"Kakuzu?" Hidan was puzzled.

"C'mon," Kakuzu motioned for him to follow.

Hidan didn't quite understand but he obeyed, curious.

Kakuzu led Hidan through numerous bushes, down a pathway hidden by overgrowth and obscured in snow. With all the snow-covered, now-dead-from-cold, foliage around that almost overgrew the path, Hidan could see it was rarely used. Then, without warning, Kakuzu pulled Hidan behind some coniferous foliage. He would've complained if it weren't for the fact that Kakuzu had covered his mouth. Kakuzu lowered his hand and Hidan just sat there, still confused.

"How could she send _them_?" Hidan could hear Shinzouko's voice from the other side of the foliage. "They're no good!"

"True," Hidan and Kakuzu could hear Seishin saying.

"They think they're all pretty," Shinzouko growled. "Looks don't matter if you can't do anything useful! See, I, on the other hand, am blessed with power _and_ good looks."

Kakuzu and Hidan could practically feel an eye roll emited from the other side of the bushes.

"Don't fuss, Shinzouko," Kanjou was talking now. "We'll have I'll chance again. Next time I'll rip Puppet Boy open and see how he ticks!"

She cackled.

"Well, for the time being, the Mistress told us to recuperate," Shinzouko said. "So let's make this a vacay, see some sights or whatever."

"I suppose," Kanjou said. "Come on, let's get out of this stupid park."

Kakuzu could hear them leaving and started to get up so he could follow them, grabbing Hidan's hand and pulling him in the direction the witches went but stopped short. He noticed Hidan's hand felt limp to him.

Kakuzu turned around.

Hidan looked to be in a sort of daze. "Hmm?"

"Hidan?" Kakuzu looked at him closely and noticed his face looked flushed.

Kakuzu touched Hidan's forehead. "You have a fever. Why didn't you say anything?"

Kakuzu looked toward the direction the witches were going and knew they'd get away.

He thought for a second and then started leading Hidan back home.

Unfortunently, the witches would have to wait for now.

_**A/N: OMG, an update! I dunno why, but I had a sudden burst of inspiration. ^v^ Well, I hope this chapter satisfied you guys. And a thanks to all my readers! Arigato Gozaimasu! :)**_


	33. Chapter 33

**_I do not own Naruto but I DO own all of the OCs and this fanfiction._**

Chapter 33: Aliens?

Erena placed a cool rag on Hidan's forehead.

Hidan was in a deep sleep in his bed as Erena tended to him.

"He seems better already," Erena smiled. "It's probably just a 24-hour virus or something; nothing severe."

"Good," replied Sasori who was standing near the door.

Kakuzu nodded and simply left the room.

Sasori followed him.

Erena decided it would be best to let Hidan rest so she left to the kitchen to prepare supper.

Sasori crossed in front of Kakuzu as he headed for his room.

Kakuzu stopped short. "If you're thinking about arguing with me Sasori-"

"I'm not," Sasori said simply.

Kakuzu looked at him, inquiringly.

"I just want to know what was going through you head," Sasori said calmly.

"What was going through my head?" Kakuzu looked at him confusedly.

"When you found the witches in the park, yet Hidan got sick. You brought Hidan home for a reason. That reason was…?"

"The reason was there was no use in letting something go wrong just for three annoying little witches."

"So you're saying you care?"

"No. I'm saying I'd never get paid if something happened to Hidan or the baby, now would I?"

Sasori looked at him for a moment, silently.

"I'll take that as you caring about him then," Sasori said, conclusively.

Kakuzu looked at him incredulously. "You just won't agree with anything I say, will you?"

"Maybe, maybe not," Sasori replied simply. "But, I suppose, since you're seemingly not going to try to intentionally hurt Hidan I have no reason to argue with you anymore."

With this Sasori turned and began walking away.

"Is this some weird way puppets apologize?" Kakuzu asked.

"No," Sasori smirked, turning back towards Kakuzu. "I have no reason to _apologize_ to you. It's just useless for me to use my energy for arguing with someone as stubborn as you when I can just save it for settling a certain score with two certain people."

"I forgot the two, bratty, twin witches kicked your butt the other day."

"Shut it."

"Fine, fine. But what do you plan to do? Are you going to go searching for them?"

"Possibly, but not alone. As unfortunent as it is, I'll need help. The problem is there's no way we could possibly leave Hidan alone especially since we have no idea what happened to him from _that time_ yet."

"True. So then you have no plan?"

"Not really."

Kakuzu smirked.

Sasori crossed his arms defiantly. "But I _will_ think of something."

* * *

Hidan held still as he could. He didn't want Sasori and Kakuzu to hear him sneaking about. He could hear them clearly from behind the door. Hidan had no problem understanding that he was in danger somehow and that the others didn't want him to know about it. Which was prety annoying but he knew they meant well, so he decided to go with it. After all, there was no need in telling them what they didn't need to know and the fact he was _actually spying on them_ wasn't a important factor (in his book, anyways). He felt way better than he did a little while ago but he was still extremely tired so he crawled into bed and went back to sleep.

* * *

The next morning, Hidan felt way better than he had the day before. He woke up smelling Erena's pancakes and that lured him out of bed.

Erena gave him a cordial "good morning" and told him breakfast would be ready in a few minutes. Hidan decided to go outside for a little while to wait. As he got to the bottom of the stairs, he noticed a snowman nearby. He remembered having built one when he was a kid. The snowman in front of him was cute and sought of small; he figured it had been built by a small child.

Then, suddenly, something grabbed his leg.

About this moment Kakuzu came down the stairs looking for Hidan and was thoroughly surprised to see what he did.

A cute little girl who couldn't have been more than 4 years old was hugging Hidan's leg with her little hands. Her brown hair was tied into long, twin tails. Her hair color matched her bright eyes and a sweet smile was on her face.

"Hidan, what are you doing?" Kakuzu asked, flatly.

"Nothing, I swear," Hidan said. "She just came over to me."

"Hi," the little girl chirped. "I'm Cho!"

She giggled and smiled cutely.

"Aw, she's so cute," Hidan smiled.

Kakuzu looked at him, questioningly. "Wait, what?"

"Sorry, I have no idea where that came from."

"Maternal instincts."

"Shut up."

"What exactly are you doing with my sister?" a voice said.

Hidan and Kakuzu turned to see four other girls who were definently older than the little brown-haired girl. They were most likely 5th graders.

The girl who had spoken-a girl with dark hair, dark eyes and a sour facial expression-grabbed the little girl, leading her away.

A girl with auburn hair tied into messy pigtails stepped forward. "Now I've got you!"

"What?" Kakuzu and Hidan stared in confusion.

"Please ignore my retarded friends," the dark-haired girl sighed.

"I'm _am_ right!" the pigtailed-girl insisted.

The two other girls just looked on.

One was a glasses-wearing girl with long, blonde hair and the other a girl with messy, dirty-blonde hair.

"Right about what?" Hidan asked.

"That you guys are aliens," the pigtailed girl said, matter-of-factly.

Kakuzu and Hidan felt like they'd had a rock dropped on their head.

"Like I said before," the black haired girl plucked her pigtailed friend in the forehead. "_Retarded_. C'mon, let's go get a soda or something."

Suddenly, the messy-haired girl started relaying introductions.

According to her, her name was Kei. The little girl with the glasses was named Michiko. The girl with the messy pigtails was Mari, the dark-haired girl was named Chie and her sister, as we know, was Cho. Hidan and Kakuzu failed to see how this had any relevance to anything that had just happened.

"So what planet are you guys from?" Mari asked.

With this Chie roughly dragged Mari away.

Odd.

The two other girls began walking as well and Cho simply followed behind waving a happy goodbye to Hidan and Kakuzu.

Even more odd.

Which left Hidan and Kakuzu extremely confused.

Completely confused, really.

Either way, these girls figured they were aliens. Even though they were wrong, they were on the right track and that made it all the worse.

**_A/N: Yosh! I've got it! I think I finally relieved myself of my writer's block! I've got a fixed ending set in place and am working towards it. Please continue to cheer for me: "Ganbatte! Ganbatte!" (^v^)v And as I said before, if anyone has any ideas for this fic or it's side fic, PM me. Thank you for reading! :)_**


	34. Chapter 34

**_I do not own Naruto but I DO own all of the OCs and this fanfiction._**

Chapter 34: Fuyumi and Izuno's Witchy Adventure

Fuyumi sat quietly, very still, in her small apartment living room. She was trying to find the center of the source of magic she was feeling; if it had something to do with witches she could be of great help. Fuyumi was always the soft-spoken kind of girl and she knew it, but due to this she seemed to be of very little help to her new friends. She thought that if she meditated hard enough, she could find something of help. Suddenly, a knock on her front door interrupted her meditation.

She got up, a little perturbed and opened the door to see…Izuno?

"Why are you here?" Fuyumi asked. "I'm a bit busy so make it quick."

"Busy doing what, calling on you magic for something again?" Izuno asked.

"You've seen magic used against us but you still won't admit it exists?"

"Magic does exist, maybe, in some other dimension. People here, in this dimension, like _you,_ cannot use magic."

Fuyumi crossed her arms impatiently. "Just what do you want?"

"Sorami-chan asked me to give you this package," Izuno said, holding up a small, brown package. Fuyumi knew it was the Lolita dress she had asked Sorami to get for her.

"Oh, that must be…ugh, fine."

Izuno looked at her confusedly. "Fine, what?"

"Fine, you can come in. Just until I write a thank you note," Fuyumi said.

She led him into her living room. Izuno noticed that black and different shades of blue were the prevalent colors and the whole room had a Gothic look to it. He sat on her blue and black couch that had odd vine-like carving engraved into it's wood. Regardless the entire room looked quite formal.

"You're a formal type girl, aren't you?" Izuno decided he would ask. "Thank you notes, and such furniture and all that."

Fuyumi put her hands on her hips. "There's nothing wrong with being formal." Fuyumi turned back to the paper she was writing on in a huff.

"I know but-" Izuno stopped before he could finish the sentence.

"But what?" Fuyumi asked.

No answer. With this she turned to see Izuno being dragged into the ground…_dragged into the ground_?

Fuyumi jumped and grabbed onto him before being roughly pulled into the darkness herself.

* * *

It was dark. Quite dark. Fuyumi could hear the muffled whispers of giggling girls. This puzzled Fuyumi. Where were they?

"Izuno-kun," she called.

"Yes?" Fuyumi felt Izuno nudge her to show he was there.

"Can you see?"

"No. I believe we're blindfolded."

Fuyumi tried to move around, but found herself bound.

"And tied up," Izuno added. "In case that wasn't obvious."

The giggling of the girls got closer until Fuyumi and Izuno felt someone untying them; then they removed their blindfolds. Fuyumi saw they were now in a room with plain wood floors, navy blue walls and windows with sheer curtains. There was a plain table with chairs, a Japanese-style teapot and teacups on it, and a bookshelf.

I front of them stood two young witches they'd never seen before. One had chestnut-colored hair and large eyes that were brown with a hint of orange, almost amber. She wore a form fitting, short, frilly dress that was low-cut. The other was taller than the previous, although that was probably due to the high-heeled boots she was wearing; she wore a dress with a mesh tutu that was short and almost see through. Her hair was lavender and her eyes were periwinkle.

What were they, the Vegas showgirl witches?

"I'm Akemi!" said the chestnut-haired witch, striking a pose. "Dangerous Witch Number 6!"

"And I'm Misaki!" the purple-haired witch struck a pose next to Akemi. "Dangerous Witch Number 7!"

"They're hot," Izuno grinned.

Fuyumi rolled her eyes. To be stuck with this guy, of all people. "Izuno-kun, focus."

She stood. She knew they needed to escape. Izuno stood along with her.

"Ne, ne," Akemi said cutely putting her arms around Izuno. "Where're ya going?"

"Yeah, lover-boy, come play with us!" Misaki tugged on his arm.

Izuno pushed the two witches away.

At least he's got that much sense. Fuyumi said inwardly.

The two girls fell to the ground.

"Aw, he won't play," Akemi pouted, jumping right back up on Izuno.

"Obviously because of the hag over there," Misaki chirped.

"Hag?" Fuyumi reddened.

Izuno chuckled. "That's a way to put it."

Misaki reached into Izuno's back pocket and pulled out his phone; Akemi already had Fuyumi's phone in her hand. Fuyumi was taken aback. How did they do that without her noticing? Was she really that out of it?

"Now we'll punish you two," Misaki grinned. "By calling your friends. We'll tell them we have you hostage and then…"

Misaki snapped her fingers and with this, Akemi put Fuyumi's phone under her foot and smashed it.

Fuyumi got the picture. Maybe these witches weren't as stupid as she thought.

At that exact moment, Akemi tripped and Izuno's phone went flying through the windowpane with a crash.

Never mind, they were that stupid.

Misaki screamed. "Akemi, you dope!"

"Sorry!" Akemi apologized.

Misaki shook her head and then grabbed Izuno's arm-playfully, flirtily...and flung him into a cage.

Fuyumi smacked herself in the forehead and scowled at Izuno. "For having such a high IQ, you sure are an idiot!"

"Oh shut up!" Izuno returned.

"Well," Fuyumi said. "Looks like it's up to me."

There was no way she was going to let herself be beaten by these witches.

**_A/N: Alright, I'm getting there. Ganbaru! Oh, and don't worry about the amount of OCs. Alot of them that weren't established in the begining won't stay in the fic, so, y'know. I think I'm notorious for the amount of OCs I'm capable of producing per fic. Eheheh.. ^.^; Well, anyways, thanks for reading everyone! _**


	35. Chapter 35

**_I do not own Naruto but I DO own all of the OCs and this fanfiction._**

Chapter 35: Fuyumi and Izuno's Witchy Adventure Part 2

Fuyumi grabbed a nearby chair and flung it at Misaki. Misaki smirked and drew a kanji character Fuyumi didn't have time to read in front of her face. Then she blew through it, blowing purple smoke towards Fuyumi.

"Fuyumi," Izuno yelled. "Hold your breath!"

Fuyumi dove down, covering her mouth and holding her breath. The smoke cleared, just when Fuyumi thought her lungs would burst. She looked up to see Misaki scowling at Izuno.

"Why you-!" Misaki growled.

But Izuno put his arms through the bars and grabbed her, gently.

"You know, you're a very pretty girl," Izuno said, in her ear.

Misaki blushed. "You really think so?"

"Yes, of course."

Fuyumi clenched her fists. What the flip was he doing at a time like this?

"You have very beautiful hair," Izuno continued. He cast a glance towards Fuyumi.

"You like my hair?" Misaki asked, cutely. "Yours is nice too, y'know."

"Sure, but yours is purple; the color of the digitalis,"-he glanced towards Fuyumi again, as if he was trying to tell her something- "Also known as the foxglove, am I right? You have an edge to you. Now that I think about it, the digitalis is also called Dead Man's Bells or Witches' Gloves."

Fuyumi thought for a moment. Seemingly, Misaki used a poison that, like the foxglove flower, could be very dangerous. She knew exactly what she needed to do then.

Izuno smiled, knowing that he had gotten his point across.

"Ne, ne!" Akemi said. "You're always so popular, Misaki-chan! I wish I could be that popular."

"You're cute too," Izuno smiled, running his fingers through Akemi's hair.

"Akemi!" Misaki whipped around. "Look out!"

Before Akemi and Misaki knew it, Fuyumi had thrown another chair. Akemi put up a force field; but instead of hitting Akemi's forcefield, Misaki was hit and thrown to the ground. Was that Akemi's only power?

Akemi and Misaki stepped forward.

"That's it," Misaki smirked.

Akemi giggled. "We're going to have to show you what love truly is! Here comes your lesson from the Koi-Koi Witches of Pain!"

_Honestly?_

Akemi smiled and then released an ear-piercing scream, sending blasting sound waves out and bringing Fuyumi to her knees.

"Love blinds you because it takes away your ability to hear," Misaki explained. "Then…"

"It binds you!" Akemi shot light out of her fingertips that wrapped around Fuyumi, tying her up.

"Next it brings pain," Misaki smiled as the binding light-ropes sent out painful pulses of magic.

"Is that all you got?" Fuyumi growled. Her torso may have been binded but she could freely use her legs.

Akemi screamed more sound waves at her. Fuyumi kicked an aluminum tray off the table towards Akemi. The tray repelled the sound waves right back at Akemi. Akemi shrieked under the force of her own power but thankfully no sound waves reached Fuyumi. The pain caused Akemi to lose her concentratioon which caused the light-ropes to become deactivated. Misaki was unforgiving; she began drawing the sign in front of her mouth again. But suddenly, Izuno tackled her to the ground.

"Izuno?" Fuyumi was taken aback. "How did you…?"

Izuno nodded towards Akemi. "Hair-pins are useful for picking locks."

Fuyumi grinned.

Okay, it was time to end this. Fuyumi concentrated with all her strength and then grabbed Akemi's head. A light surrounded Akemi, and then she turned into smoke and was imprisoned in a bottle nearby, on the floor. Fuyumi turned to Misaki.

"Useless girl," Misaki smirked. "You can't do anything without magic or your little boyfriend."

Fuyumi kicked the witch who cried out in pain. "I am not useless!" With this she sent Misaki into the bottle.

"So that's it?" Izuno asked.

"Yeah, they'll die of starvation," Fuyumi explained. "Still not going to admit magic exists?"

"Probably not."

And then Fuyumi's legs gave out on her.

"Not useless, huh?" Izuno laughed.

"Oh, just shut up and carry me!" Fuyumi growled. "Oh…that sounded wrong."

Izuno just gave a pleased smirk before lifting Fuyumi onto his back.

And as Izuno rode with Fuyumi in a taxi to her apartment that night, Fuyumi drifted off to sleep. Izuno chuckled lightly as her head rested on his shoulder. Fuyumi wasn't the prettiest girl; she was a bit short and flat-chested. She was proper, superstitious and currently battered and bruised. But she was strong-willed and kind. That, Izuno decided, was enough to make her attractive.

_Just barely._ He added mentally.

**_A/N: Okay, don't worry, now we get back to the Hidan and Kakuzu action stuff but a certain someone I'm going to call "Turtle-chan" asked for a pairing in this fic so here she has it. I hope I pleased her and continue to live up to everyone's expectations. I'm trying my hardest. Thanks for reading! :)_**


	36. Chapter 36

**_I do not own Naruto but I DO own all of the OCs and this fanfiction._**

Chapter 37: Answers Are Imminent

The place was dark where the girl stood. The curtains were closed and the only light was that of a flickering candle. The light of the candle illuminated the black and green dress of the woman sitting in front of her, in her elaborate chair. The girl gave a bow a smiled to her higher-up.

"Mistress," the girl said.

The woman's face could not be seen due to the darkness but her foreboding voice could be heard clearly. "You are our last bit of pride, Kaori."

The girl looked directly in front of her and smiled. "Yes, Mistress. I will not fail you, as the sole bit of pride left. I will be nothing like those fools before me who dared to let you down."

"Good. Now go."

The girl turned and swiftly left. Her brunette bangs swayed in the wind as she stepped on into the night air, put on her witch cap and took flight on her broom.

But even an hour before, three other witch girls had set out way before her with a plan of their own…

* * *

At that exact moment, Kakuzu woke to a beeping sound. He opened his eyes and was puzzled as to what could be beeping, as the clock by his bed read 1:45 a.m. He sat upright and figured out that it was his phone, beeping continuosly…signaling that witches were nearby. He picked it up and looked at the screen. They were close. Very close. He put the phone on vibrate and went, quickly but softly towards the signal; towards Hidan's room. When he opened the door he saw nothing but Hidan sleeping, rather restlessly. He went over to his bed, looking around for a sign that anyone had been there. He saw nothing. At that exact moment Hidan grabbed him.

What in the world?

Kakuzu looked at Hidan; his eyes shone a lavender hue in the dark but he seemed to still be in a daze looking slightly terrified and a little disoriented.

Kakuzu shook his shoulder gently. "Hidan."

Hidan seemed to snap into reality. "Huh? What?"

"What were you dreaming about?"

"Oh, it's no big deal."

He was lying, of course. It was "that dream". "That dream" had been haunting him for years. The thing was, usually something would trigger his memory before he drempt about "that". So then what could've set his mind into that sought of mode. He couldn't think straight. Was it normally this hot in the apartment? He felt Kakuzu's cool hand on his forehead.

This was odd. Kakuzu knew that they had got rid of the fever Hidan had had before. He laid Hidan back down before getting a cool rag for Hidan's forehead. That's when it clicked. Everything seemed so familiar and the same things seemed to happen under the same circumstances. The reoccurring fever, the pale color in Hidan's eyes, the emotional instability and last but not least the position of the witches.

"Sasori!" he called.

Sasori appeared in the doorway almost immediately. "What?"

"I found a connection," Kakuzu whispered into Sasori's ear.

"What, how?"

"Because-wait a moment, what do you mean how? I'm capable of-"

"Never mind, just get on with it."

As Kakuzu told Sasori about his thoughts, Hidan was thinking through his own thoughts. Most of all, he was wondering if he would regret what he was about to say.

"You don't have to dodge the subject and all that," Hidan said.

"Huh?" Sasori asked.

"I soughta know about what you've been hiding from me, I mean about the witches and what they did."

Kakuzu crossed his arms. "Hidan, how did you find out?"

"Oh, uh, that's not even important," Hidan tried.

"You know, the way you look all guilty made me curious now," Sasori said, humored.

Hidan shook his head, feeling sought of angry with himself, to be truthful.

"I spied on you guys," he blurted.

"What?" Kakuzu exchanged glances with Sasori before he turned his angry eyes back to Hidan. "Are you honestly that stupid?"

"Thanks a lot," Hidan murmured. "I just wanted to know what you were talking about."

"It took me this long to realize what Hidan reminds me of," Kakuzu mused to Sasori.

"What?" Sasori asked.

"A 5-year-old."

Sasori chuckled; Hidan was ticked.

"Regardless, as I was saying," Kakuzu said, getting back on track. "It's highly probable that the witches have a lot to do with this fever Hidan keeps getting. If you think about it, it happens every time they're within range of our tracker. Not to metion the unstable emotions and the changing color of his eyes."

"But what does it help them gain?"

That's when Kakuzu noticed Hidan falling into a haze again and heard Erena's voice calling.

"Kakuzu-sama! Sasori-sama! Where are you?"

Erena's worried face lit up as she saw them standing in Hidan's room, but as she made her way towards them she was intercepted by three familiar witches.

_Not again!_

Shinzouko, Kanjou and Seishin stood happily between them. Erena pulled out her latest illegal gun.

"Let's end this now," Shinzouko smiled. "We've had enough of this!"

"Indeed," Kanjou growled. "Thanks to you guys we've been ridiculed to no end. Now you're going to pay."

Kanjou raised her wand above her head but then, everyone was startled as a violent kick sent her smashing into the wall. A brunette witch with her hair braided into two, long twintails and an all black traditional witch's ensenble-save for the short dress-stood over her.

The brunette grabbed Kanjou by the collar.

Kanjou's eyes widened. "Kaori?"

The brunette, seemingly named Kaori, just smiled and then kicked Kanjou again who slumped to the floor.

"Onee-chan!" Seishin cried, alarmed.

Kaori was easily able to smash Seishin on top of her sister and grab Shinzouko in one swift motion.

"You had your moment to shine, now it's my turn." Kaori gave a last smile before throwing Shinzouko to the ground and stepping on her, grindind her foot violently into her. Then she turned her malevolent eyes to Kakuzu and gave an evil smirk.

"I'm not impressed. This is droll; entertain me."

"Entertain you, huh?" Kakuzu cracked his knuckles.

"Wait, wait," Kaori said.

She went back over to Kanjou and grabbed a string of beads out Kanjou's pocket. Then she smashed the under her feet.

Hidan seemed to snap out of his haze and his eyes regained their original color.

"These beads were the cause of his problems," Kaori explained. "Now you can fight me without any interference."

So that was it.

"Fine by me," Kakuzu said, punching Kaori.

Kaori easily broke the force of the punch and landed on her feet. She ran back and kicked Kakuzu into the wall.

Kakuzu was surprised; that was a huge blast of power from a little body. Kakuzu had to admit, the girl had strong looking thighs, but still, it didn't look like she had that much power. Kakuzu came back at her, punching her but she was able to dodge his violent punches. Then she aimed a punch, directly at the wall. It blasted a gaping hole in it. Sasori used one of his puppets to knock her backwards.

"Are you retarded?" Hidan yelled at Kaori. "You could knock the entire building down!"

"Aw, really?" Kaori punched another hole into the wall. "That would be tragic, hmm?"

She wound up her fist again, but Kakuzu met her fists and pushed her backwards. Kaori raised her hands.

"Maybe I should stop messing around," a tiny whirlwind was swirling in her hand. "I could just destroy this entire complex in one blow."

Kakuzu froze.

She wasn't bluffing. _Was_ she _mad_?

With all this, no one noticed Shinzouko sneaking into the kitchen and grabbing a knife.

Kakuzu stood still, in fighting position. "What is it that you want?"

"Give me Hidan and I'll leave," Kaori smiled.

"You know nothing about bargaining, do you?"

"Make your choice."

Kakuzu had no idea what to do. He needed time to plan. Should he just rip her heart out? No, she was too fast. Maybe Sasori could poison her with poisonous gas? No, that would hurt all of them.

That when Shinzouko appeared, knife in hand, and brought the knife deep into Kaori's side.

Kaori cried out. "You fool! What are you doing?"

Shinzouko ripped the knife out of Kaori and forced her to the ground.

"You were not meant to live, Kaori," Shinzouko growled. "I can't let you roam around anymore. Not on Earth, not in the Witches' Realm!"

"You have no idea what you're doing! The Mistress will be angry! You'll pay for this! For your very existence!"

"Then that's a chance I have to take!"

With this she plunged the knife deep into Kaori's heart.

**_A/N: I don't know about you guys but this chapter was really enjoyable for me. It was uber fun to put the scenes in my mind up here and bring 'em to life. ^v^ Hope the surprise got you. Okay, this is a two part thingy, one for now and one for tommorrow (I think). So, thanks everyone! ;)_**


	37. Chapter 37

**_I do not own Naruto but I DO own all the OCs in this fic, and this fic itself._**

Chapter 37: Jack O. Lantern

Everyone could do nothing but be surprised at the unpredicted turn of events that had just happened. Shinzouko had just killed a fellow witch. Did she suddenly have some miraculous change of heart or was everyone in the room dead and/or hallucinating. Was it even possible to be both at the same time?

Kakuzu kept his gaze on Shinzouko who slumped to the floor and dropped the knife, breathing heavily.

"I'm impressed," Kanjou said, walking over. She coughed up a little blood. "I didn't think you had the guts, Shinzouko. Well, good riddings."

Seishin stood wearily next to her sister and friend, not speaking but seemingly analyzing the situation. Kanjou locked eyes with Kakuzu.

"This had nothing to do with you or your friends," Kanjou spat.

"I hoped as much," Kakuzu replied.

Kanjou helped Shinzouko to her feet.

"Then what?" Hidan asked, stepping into the room. "Aren't you supposed to kill _us_?"

"That thing was a monster," Shinzouko growled.

Suddenly, a light began to flash in the middle of the room and there appeared a man in a suit and top hat with…a jack o' lantern for a head?

The three witch girls seemed both relieved and afraid at the same time but none spoke a word.

The jack o' lantern guy walked over to the three witch girls and nodded to them.

"Kaori is dead," he said simply. "The entire event was watched."

His voice was dark but composed but yet somehow insane, in a way.

The witches flinched.

The jack o' lantern guy looked at the three scared witches and smirked. "Miss Fuji is amused."

The witches' faces lit up.

"I'm sure Miss Fuji will deal with any of The Mistress' complaints. You are free to leave."

"Arigato gozaimasu!" Shinzouko bowed deeply and then all three witches left.

The weird man stayed. He looked at the bewildered people standing before him.

"Excuse my manners," the odd man said. "I am Jack, Witch Fuji's servant, protector, butler, advisor and whatever else she may want me to be, depending on the day. Most know me as Jack O. Lantern but my middle and last name have never been revealed to anyone other than Miss Fuji."

"Okay, Jack-san," Kakuzu raised a brow. "So apparently you have a reason to be here?"

"Indeed," Jack replied. "I am going to say all of this once and only once, do you hear me? So listen carefully. I am one of the only non-witches of a large coven planning no good. This is just as we like it of course-our bodies being laden with evil-this is the nature of who we are. As our three lead witches detected, Mister Hidan is the host of a mahoko. Most of the time mahoko are unable to find a host strong enough to support it, yet fitting the correct needs that are required for it to survive and usually die before finding a host. Our previous generation possessed few special attributes, and so this is the first time in a long while that a mahoko has actually found a suitable host in this realm that fits the correct conditions for it's survival. Therefore, we have no choice but to try to steal it from you. Tonight's attempt and the others before have been direct failures thanks to all of your unexpected strength and determination. My missus and her two affiliates have been waiting eagerly and impatiently to get what it is they want, yet their plans have been continuously foiled so they have decided to invite you to our, 'banquet,' shall I say? Take my card."

Jack handed Kakuzu his card.

"Just use the address on the card," Jack instructed.

"And if we don't show up?" Kakuzu asked.

"Well then, The Mistress will have no reason for Tokyo anymore. To prevent the mahoko from falling into other people's hands that could possibly unlock it's secrets we must wipe out any trace of it and people possibly affiliated or in contact with it's host. Also, The Mistress finds any reminder of failure an eyesore. Do you understand?"

Kakuzu narrowed his eyes at Jack; Jack smirked.

"I do," Kakuzu replied, firmly.

"Good, then," Jack turned away but then stopped. "I suggest you come prepared. The witches you've fought with before are different from the missus and her two friends."

"Different?" Hidan asked.

"Yes, they are quite much more violent that the others. Kaori was an 'experiment.' She was only a fraction of those three's power and bloodlust. I possess quite a bit myself. Just looking at such worthy opponents makes me want to rip you to shreds."

Jack cackled manaicly and then gave a last, creepy grin to Kakuzu and Hidan.

"I quite enjoyed this chat, Mister Kakuzu, Mister Hidan. I very much hope, and believe, that we will meet again." With this he picked up Kaori's corpse and disappeared in the same fashion he had came.

Hidan grasped Kakuzu's arm. "I have never once in my life been afraid of a jack o' lantern."

"You're not going to start now, are you?" Sasori asked.

"No," Hidan replied, firmly.

"Neither will I," Erena said, slightly perturbed. "Absolutely not with his attitude. _Jack_, huh? A _suitable_ name."

"Honestly," Kakuzu smirked. "When us S-rank criminals are reduced to actually saving a city, that's when I get pissed."

**_A/N: Hmm, well most any questions that pertain to the witches were probably answered in this chapter but if you have any others, PM me (or if you're an anonymous reviewer, don't hesitate to include any questions in your review). Now Jack on the other hand-ohohoho-I enjoyed writing about him. A freaky character: he's able to strike fear into the bravest hearts, being as he is. But still, he's fun to write about. B) Well, thanks for reading! :D_**


	38. Chapter 38

_**I do not own Naruto but I DO own all of the OCs and this fanfiction.**_

Regardless of the obvious danger ahead, everyone our favorite three S-rank criminals had met over the past months were interested in having a part in stopping those annoying witches once and for all. That's when Kakuzu, Hidan and Sasori started thinking that maybe having people who actually knew about them was a good thing. Yeah, that statement only applies to select people. That was proven on the very day they had first thought that as now, they were sitting in the courtyard face to face with those five little girls they had met not too long before who had all the answers that they had been seeking before. How did it end up this way? Well…

* * *

_Earlier that morning…_

Mari spun in her friend Michiko's chair impatiently. She fumbled with her auburn pigtails. "Is it loaded yet, Michi-chan?" Mari groaned.

"Almost," the blonde replied.

"This is stupid," Chie complained.

"It's not," Mari huffed.

Chie blew her dark bangs off her face, annoyed. "You're not gonna find anything. Why the flip would you put a spy camera on Hidan-san's jacket?"

"Because I am 100% sure there's proof. It's on this video; I can feel it. If it would just freakin' load!"

Chie rolled her eyes. Michiko just giggled at her two friends; Kei was occupied jumping rope, her floppy, dirty-blonde bangs bouncing.

A moment later, Michiko clapped her hands together. "Ah, it's loaded."

Mari was at her side at once, Kei coming over second and finally-reluctantly-Chie. So they watched the footage recorded of all the events that went on in scope of the camera-which would be all of the living room-over the last 3 days (fast forwarding anything useless, of course).

* * *

And so here we are.

Kakuzu massaged his temples. These five, (well actually four; little Cho was just being babysat by her big sister Chie) nosy, neighborhood brats had footage of so much proof it was ridiculous. From the converstation he and Sasori had about the witches and Hidan's pregnancy all the way down to Jack O. Lantern's speech.

"I can tell what you are thinking, you know," Mari said, grinning. "You're thinking, 'They have so much proof' and such, am I right?"

"You know, we don't mind killing you guys, right?" Kakuzu narrowed his eyes.

"We know," Mari said in a proud tone. "But, nonetheless, we have unanimously decided we want to help."

Silence.

Finally, Sasori spoke, a bit incredulous. "You want to help…?"

"Hai!" Mari said. "This is the destiny that has been bestowed upon us!"

"It just doesn't seem like we should just sit and do nothing," Kei agreed.

"Helping people is good!" Michiko added.

Chie kept a sour facial expression. "Normally, I would just leave this as it is, but Jack-san said that anyone involved would be eliminated…I have a little sister to protect so…"

Regardless of how annoying or nosy they were they seemed to be genuinely good little girls.

"Fine then," Kakuzu surprised everyone by replying.

They could probably be of some "help".

"Yosh!" Mari pumped her fist into the air.

Chie scowled. "Oh shut up, Haruhi Suzumiya!"

Sorami perked up. "OMG, it is like-!"

Sasori facepalmed. "No anime references!"

* * *

A little while later, the five girls were out of their hair, off on a "mission" assigned to them by Kakuzu. Now, they could finally get down to serious business.

"Simply put," Kakuzu started. "We can't just go to the witches' so called 'banquet' unprepared."

"Well that was downright obvious, Kakuzu-kun," Hareta said. "We already know a lot about the witches, what they want and what not, but what we need to know is the answers to the things we haven't figured out enough about to actually beat them."

"Jack-san basically handed us most of the answers on a silver platter," Sasori thought aloud. "We don't know what kind of powers the three head witches have, we have no idea if the address Jack-san gave us is phony or what this 'banquet' actually is although it's obvious it's not actually a banquet. Those are the main problems here."

"Well, if all witches possess some kind of elemental power we can assume the three lead witches will too," Genmaru suggested. "Y'know, like Shinzouko possessed the power of lightning and Kaori and that cloaked-woman that chased Hidan that time possessed the power of wind."

"No, the witches Izuno-kun and I fought didn't possess elemental powers," Fuyumi said.

Genmaru snapped his fingers, feeling a bit defeated.

"What the flip?" Hidan exclaimed out of the blue.

"What?" Kakuzu asked.

"When did Fuyumi-chan and Izuno-kun fight witches?"

Izuno rolled his eyes and shot a knowing look at Fuyumi.

"What?" Fuyumi shot back. "It didn't seem that important at the time!"

Kakuzu sighed. "So then they possessed what?"

"Poison and sound," Izuno replied. "And sex appeal."

Most everyone facepalmed at the last comment.

"Well at least we've been able to group the witches and their powers," Suzuki sighed. "All except for the twins."

What was the twins' power? They had never figured that out and they had left without barely a word last time. Everyone was silent, as they were in deep thought.

Hidan finally broke the silence, "Kanjou and Seishin."

"Yes, we know their names, Hidan," Kakuzu said, mockingly.

"No, I mean, Kanjou and Seishin, that's their names. It makes sense. Their names mean emotion and mind. I think they have the power to take over your emotions and mind.

"That's actually a good observation, surprisingly."

_Surprisingly, he says._

"So that settles that then," Taemi said. "We know as much as we can for what information we've been given. The key to beating these witches is obviously to counter their main power. You've all probably noticed that once the power of a witch is foiled it's virtually impossible for them to fight back so when confronting these witches we need to uncover their powers as soon as possible while keeping in mind the powers of the witches we've fought previously. All we need is supplies and a few illegal weapons."

Taemi gave a knowing look towards Erena.

Erena smirked. "Illegal guns are my specialty. I'm sure two yankies we know would probably be able to cover any other areas of illegal weaponry."

"No prob," Kuromi and Akako said coolly.

"Then it's settled," Kakuzu announced. "Make all preperations within the next 24 hours if possible. The banquet is in less than 48-hours."

So, everyone went to prepare.

* * *

And what were Mari and her friends doing during all this? they were at the convinience store on a "mission", buying snacks.

* * *

_**A/N: All right! Thanks for reading everyone! :)**_


	39. Chapter 39

_**I do not own Naruto but I DO own all of the OCs and this fanfiction.**_

It was around noon. Hidan awoke with a start, disarrayed and uneasy. His heart was beating rapidly and he was completely out of breath. As he began to calm down he realized he was in the living room on the couch. He must have fallen asleep. It was all very confusing since the cause of his panicked awakening was "that dream". It couldn't be Kanjou and Seishin, could it? He looked around. Kakuzu was still in his room, typing on the computer; Hidan could see him through the cracked door. If it had been Kanjou and Seishin the tracker would have gone off. Because of where the tracker was located on Kanjou, Seishin and Shinzouko they wouldn't have found the tracker. Hidan figured the dream had come from all the tension at the moment. What was "that dream"? It was a dream that would contain memories of his childhood. Like reliving it in high definition. It would begin with him being in his bedroom, alone, in total solitude. His room was relatively empty, nothing was there but a closet, a futon and his few toys but he wasn't unhappy. Then…his mother would enter the room.

Hidan pushed the thought out of his mind.

That's when he looked up to see Kakuzu, staring at him.

"Um, what?" Hidan asked.

"I'm seriously starting to question your sanity," Kakuzu raised a brow.

Hidan rolled his eyes. "Why?"

"I'm not."

"What? Wait…what?"

"I wanted to know what you would say. Most of the time you'd defend yourself. So my question for you is, why are you having a pity-party over here?"

"I'm not. I was just waking up from a dream. It took a second to wake up."

"A dream about what?"

"About nothing, Kakuzu," Hidan said, firmly.

Kakuzu wasn't interested in invading in Hidan's personal business at the very moment, so he didn't bother. Instead he though for a second about what he was interested in.

"What?" Hidan asked. "Is something bothering you?"

"You're extremely annoying," Kakuzu replied. "And sometimes you are a problem."

"Ugh! You're such a-!"

"But you're not completely useless. You're not a waste of time and you have a lot of determination. If you actually put thought into it and believed in yourself a little more you could probably do a lot more than you think you can. But, wait. You probably see those last comments as irrelevant?"

Hidan thought for a second. It suddenly dawned on him. He laughed. "You're really bad at compliments and stuff."

Kakuzu smirked. "Was it a compliment?" He headed back to his room.

Hidan smiled.

A few moments later, a thought came to Hidan. He peeked his head into Kakuzu's room.

"Kakuzu, I just remembered I had to go to Katamaru's house for something," Hidan said.

"As long as Katamaru's picking you up, it's fine," Kakuzu replied, typing on his laptop.

"Okay then. Oh, and Kakuzu? Thanks."

* * *

Mari was staring at the ceiling in her friend Michiko's room. Was she spying on Kakuzu and the others again? Not this time. Surprisingly, she and the girls were actually attempting to be helpful; she was trying to think of a way to help Kakuzu and the others. For it was her destiny. (Or so she believed.) Chie was a pessimistic as ever.

"It's useless, Mari," she said. "There is no way we can help them."

"There's gotta be a way," Mari said. "Absolutely!"

"I think we should try," Kei said.

"There's no harm in doing so," Michiko agreed.

Chie sighed.

"Witch!" Cho chirped.

The older girls jumped. "Where?"

Cho pointed to a illustration in the storybook she was reading.

The older girls sighed in relief. Thank goodness it wasn't a real witch.

Michiko snapped her fingers. "That's it!"

"What's it?" Kei asked.

"The library!"

"Huh?" Chie asked.

Michiko adjusted her glasses. "I just remembered that Kakuzu-san found the information he needed at the library. There could be books on witches there that are true to fact!"

Mari jumped up. "Alright then! To the library!"

"Really?" Chie groaned.

"Yes, really! Let's go!"

* * *

People have different ways of helping people. For example, while Mari and her friends were at the library, Akako and Kuromi were in an underground base, pummeling a smuggler. Not for justice, but for his goods.

"Okay, okay!" the smuggler pleaded. "I'll give you whatever you want! Just please, don't hurt m-!"

The man didn't get to finish his sentence before Akako had kicked him across the room.

Kuromi pointed her gun at his head. "I can't promise you won't get hurt, unless you give us free service."

The man nodded rapidly. "See those crates?" He pointed to the far side of the warehouse.

"What of 'em?" Akako asked.

"They contain all soughts of smuggled weapons. Anything you could want. May I recommend the poisonous darts? They kill in a matter of minutes. They contain an illegal poison but you might wanna get the antidote too. It's in a separate crate. They're both marked."

"Good," Kuromi replied. "Perhaps you have a chance of living. Akako."

"I'm going, I'm going," Akako said, as she made her way over to check the contents of the crate.

Meanwhile, Erena was busy talking with her favorite underground business about illegal guns, Tenko was using her seductive abilities to score a couple of knives and other small weapons. Everyone else was covering several odds and ends.

Hidan, for example, was now at Katamaru's house, helping him get smuggled military weapons by way of an underground site.

"Never once have I been involved in such, Hidan-kun," Katamaru massaged his temples. "If this gets out-"

"It probably won't," Hidan replied. "That's why I'm helping you. Otherwise you could've gotten involved in something really bad instead of just moderately bad."

"I guess an S-rank criminal would know so I'll trust you. You're awfully peppy today. Did something good happen with your boyfriend?"

"Kakuzu is not my boyfriend!"

"I know," Katamaru grinned. "He's too mean to you to be your boyfriend anyways. I'm just teasing you; at least you know who I'm talking about. It keeps me from having to say the idiot's name."

"I still don't get why you two hate each other."

Katamaru dismissed the last statement with some comment about how annoying he was. Then he turned to Hidan, nicer now, "You know, you're being a big help."

"No I'm not," Hidan thought it over. "Well then again..."

Katamaru smirked. "I guess if you're gonna try so hard to be helpful maybe I could try to work better with Kakuzu."

"Wait, really?"

"I'm not gonna make any promises!"

Hidan chuckled. With everyone actually putting forth an effort like they were this could really work.

_**A/N: All right! Thanks for reading everyone! :) And a special thanks to Witch-sama, my faithful anonymous reviewer, and Yu-chan (KuroTenshiAkuma)! **_


	40. Chapter 40

_**I do not own Naruto but I DO own all of the OCs and this fanfiction.**_

A banquet, according to the dictionary entry, is a ceremonial meal. As he drove to the location printed on Jack's card-their rendezvous-he knew that this "banquet" couldn't be celebrating anything good much less actually be a banquet. He still hadn't figured these witches out completely but something had to be done, point blank.

"You _do_ know what you're getting into, right, Kakuzu?" Sasori asked.

"Yes, of course," Kakuzu replied.

"And you do know what you're getting us into? What you're getting him into?" Sasori gestured to Hidan, who was napping in the back seat, next to Erena.

"How could I not? But it's not like we have a choice."

"I know."

Erena smiled. "I've seen you two in action. I doubt they'll be able to beat you. I doubt it very seriously."

Kakuzu and Sasori smirked. "Of course."

* * *

So, as it turns out, this place Jack had marked was far out into the country. This fact completely puzzled everyone. They were more surprised to see a huge, foreboding Japanese style house when they arrived at their destination. Barren trees covered in snow surrounded it.

"How do you think they could've hidden such a huge house?" Hidan, who was now awake, asked.

"Well, it _is_ in the middle of the country," Suzuki observed.

"True," Jack appeared suddenly, in front of them. "But we kill anyone who comes within a specific range of this place, regardless."

Everyone froze.

Jack laughed evilly and then grinned. "You are special guests. I'm not planning on killing you. Come inside, why don't you?"

He began walking inside.

"Should we?" Yumi asked.

"Don't sweat it," Kuromi loaded her gun.

Jack led them inside. "If it makes you any more comfortable, I'll give you permission to attack me if you feel it necessary."

Jack gave one of his signature smirks but most everyone was too preoccupied with their surroundings to notice. From the looks of the place, it seemed this house had been refurbished from a lavish house of the Edo period or maybe a temple. Yet, the inside was a completely confusing collaboration of styles. The room's furniture were purples, dark blues and golds done in a regal Japanese style yet the intricate designs integrated into the Japanese style resembled something regal and classic, almost an Aristocratic Lolita style. A large staircase stood in front of them from where they stood in the large foyer.

Meiko bounced happily. "This place is huge!" She inspected almost anything she could get her hands on.

Suddenly, the doors opened and then shut with a bang getting everyone's attention. "Ah, you all arrived before me." Standing in the doorway was none other than the cloaked woman from before.

"You!" Hidan was a bit surprised. He never thought he'd see her again.

The cloaked woman walked past everyone to Jack. Jack grabbed her cloak to hang it up, finally revealing the woman's true appearance: her fiery red hair fell gracefully on her shoulders and her yellow eyes were fierce, almost like at cat's. She looked to be about 23 years old. She wore a black, straight, leather mini-dress with thigh-high boots and long, black gloves to match. Jack handed her a black witches' hat which she placed on her head promptly.

"I suppose, I should introduce myself properly now or else risk being called the cloaked lady forever," she said.

"Indeed, you might never live it down if you don't correct this problem now," Jack chuckled.

Fuji focused her attention on her "guests". "I'm Witch Fuji. This answers the question of who I am and now leaves the question of if you'll actually get the hag to come out to see you."

Suddenly, a busty, platinum-blonde appeared at the top of the stairway. She wore a revealing jacket with a tight skirt and cute boots.

"I wonder, I wonder, if The Mistress will come to see you?" she said, playfully. "Of course not! But I will!"

She slid down the banister and gave an assertive-flirty pose.

Witch Fuji and Jack gave a smirk and then exchanged glances, perhaps sharing a private thought.

"The name's Reiko," the platinum-blonde smiled. "But call me, Reiko-hime, 'kay?"

"Honestly?" Tenko deadpanned.

"Yes, honestly, stupid. Now, anyways, I think we should start this banquet with a game."

Witch Fuji and Jack seemed to perk up at this thought.

"Oh?" Fuji looked at Reiko. "_That _game?"

"Indeed," Reiko grinned and then turned back to Hidan and the others. "The object of this game is to find us within two-hours' time."

"Aren't you guys a bit old for hide-and-go-seek?" Sasori taunted.

"Maybe so," Jack smirked. "But if you don't find us and defeat us within the time limit, we will spill your guts in the most delightfully violent way. Good luck."

With this, Fuji, Reiko and Jack disappeared.

"And so this ridiculous, harmless game that's somehow become dangerous begins," Hidan stated.

**_A/N: ALRIGHT! FINALLY, AN UPDATE! Please keep the nice reviews coming people! ARIGATO GOZAIMASU!_**


	41. Chapter 41

_**I do not own Naruto but I DO own all of the OCs and this fanfiction.**_

Chapter 41: Enigmatic

"So where in this huge place would witches hide themselves?" Yumi asked, as they walked into the living room. The floor was made of an expensive wood with an elaborate Oriental rug in the middle of the room. The furniture was made in a Japanese-style fashion but the living room had a mostly black theme, unlike the brighter-themed foyer. The black curtains gave the room a creepy aura.

"This is ridiculously stupid!" Tenko yelled in frustration. "How do they expect us to do this?"

"They don't," Fuyumi stated. "Because I can easily sense their auras. They're just waiting around, so to speak."

"So, they want us to find them?" Hidan asked.

"Precisely," Sasori replied. "Apparently they want us to find them and attempt to beat them. Incredibly confident little twits."

"Or incredibly smart," Kakuzu added.

Sasori gave him a glance of interest.

Kakuzu turned to Fuyumi. "So in which direction are they?"

Fuyumi pointed to a hallway leading out of the living room.

"Okay then," Tenko said. "Let's go!"

Halfway down the hall, a realization hit Kakuzu.

"Tenko-chan, I wouldn't walk so fast," he said.

"Don't call me Tenko-cha-!" was all Tenko could manage before large spikes began to rain from the ceiling. Kakuzu grabbed Tenko and pulled her back, roughly, just out of the way of her impending doom.

"My guess is you understand why you shouldn't be walking so fast now," Kakuzu smirked.

"Shut it," Tenko snapped.

"So I was right. I figured it wouldn't be a cakewalk to get to them. They're testing us to see if we'll either die or reveal our skills."

"Dang," Hareta said. "They actually did a good job here."

"The main enemies are never as stupid as they seem," Sorami chirped. "Even if it's only by an itsy bit."

Suzuki rolled her eyes. "Whatever, how do we get past?"

"Step aside," Izuno said, stepping forward. He adjusted his glasses and studied the hallway looking at numerous points. "There are two more traps lined along this hallway. More spikes and another of a completely different fashion. It's really quite easy to figure out if you-"

"Eep!" Meiko cried as she jumped back from some spikes that were ejected from the wall. "Wow, Izuno-kun! You were right about the spikes!"

Izuno shook his head. "Anyways, the other one should be motion-activated."

Akako shot a bullet in a straight line down the hallway.

Nothing happened.

"It looks like your science failed you, Izuno-kun," Fuyumi teased.

"That's impossible," Izuno frowned. "I was sure there was-"

Suddenly a growling sound was heard from behind them. They turned to see a huge creature who's head almost reached the ceiling. It's body was mostly made of a gelatinous, green material but it's arms were solid steal and it had steal claws. It had a pumpkin for a head, like Jack, only its head was made of a much larger pumpkin.

The creature swung it's clawed hand at Genmaru who jumped back in surprise.

"Anybody else wanna bet this thing's not friendly?" Genmaru joked.

"Seems like some type of biogenetically engineered creature," Izuno said, dodging a swing of the creature's arm. "That has the intent to kill. _Us_."

"Or magically engineered," Fuyumi grinned. "Keep going, I'll take care of this thing."

"Are you sure?" Genmaru asked.

"Of course."

"I suppose you'll need my help again," Izuno said, giving Fuyumi a smirk. "Meiko-chan, Sorami-chan, come be of some help. The rest of you go on ahead."

Everyone obeyed their orders and as Fuyumi, Izuno, Meiko and Sorami got ready to battle the creature in front of them, everyone else went farther into the witches' lair.

At the end of the hallway was a door and through it was a rather enigmatic room. It was like a checkerboard from the floor, to the wall to the ceiling. All the furniture in this room did not match. Plus, all the furniture was floating. Reiko was waiting for them, sitting on a floating chair.

"Wow," she said. "It took you long enough. I only sent one monster in hopes that you'd get here faster. I was getting bored, y'know?"

Tenko fired a bullet at her which Reiko dodged by just an inch.

"What gives?" Reiko yelled angrily.

"I didn't like your attitude from the beginning, Reiko," Tenko replied simply.

"It's Reiko-hime!"

"Reiko-baka."

Reiko clenched her fist and released a blast of light energy.

Tenko dodged. "Yup, she's a real baka. She just revealed her power."

Reiko smirked as if she knew something they didn't.

At this exact moment Kakuzu's cell phone rang. He glanced at the caller ID and saw that Mari was calling him. He pressed ignore and put his cell back in his pocket. He was not going to use a valuable moment of his time to entertain a little girl who believed in aliens. As he looked up he noticed there was a blast coming straight for him and dodged just in time.

Great. She already used up some of his time and he hadn't even answered it. He swung his fist at Reiko.

His phone rang again.

Honestly?

He jumped out of the way of another incoming blast, pulled out his phone in one swift motion and pressed ignore.

Reiko was smiling now, amused by Kakuzu annoyance. Hareta used this opening to throw a smoke grenade at Reiko.

Now, when the grenade blew up, once again, Kakuzu's phone rang.

_Seriously?_

Kakuzu pulled out his phone. "What do you want?" He growled into the phone.

"Dude!" Mari countered. "Just pick up your phone when I call! I got some flippin' crucial information about those witches!"

"Just tell me what you got. And make it quick."

"Okay, okay. We found some books at the library and they said that witches' powers aren't limited to one thing. Witches of lower levels can usually only wield one power but experienced witches can wield numerous kinds of powers. And, nine times outta ten that Mistress lady and her two friends are not low-level witches."

At this point Hidan and Sasori were listening in.

The smoke from the smoke grenade cleared and Reiko could see well enough to launch another attack. This time she shot a huge icicle at Sasori. Sasori moved out of the way.

"Oh _great_," Sasori sighed.

"I was right, wasn't I?" Mari asked, on the phone. "I can hear Sasori-san complaining."

"Well congratulations to you," Kakuzu jeered, hanging up. He then grabbed the icicle that had hit the floor and threw it, not at Reiko, but at her chair. The chair was shot from under Reiko and she fell to the ground on her butt. Tenko pointed her gun at Reiko's head.

Reiko let out a little squeak of fear and then disappeared into thin air.

"What?" Tenko growled in frustration. "_What_? Ugh! I can't stand these witches! Especially that Reiko!"

Taemi sharpened one of her knives a little. "We should keep going so they don't get the advantage, especially when, at the moment, we seem to have an advantage."

This was seemingly so. Surely they had an advantage now but was this advantage limited to Reiko?

**_A/N: Hu-hah! X) Trying to figure out what the inside of the witches' lair should look like made this take a while to write. ^.^; I decided, in the end, to make it a haphazard kinda place. I wanted it to reflect the witches' different personalities in a way. I hope I lived up to expectations. Thanks for reading everyone! In the next chapter you'll get to see Jack and Miss Fuji. Yay. XD_**


	42. Chapter 42

_**I do not own Naruto but I DO own all of the OCs and this fanfiction.**_

Chapter 42: Enigma

Reiko had made her escape just in time. If she hadn't used her transportation magic she would've had a bullet in her head. She complained to herself as she flew on her broom, through the halls in the direction of where Jack and Witch Fuji were. How dare that little indigo-haired brat try to shoot a bullet through her head. She was definitely going down.

Well, as Reiko was complaining, she wasn't paying much attention to her flying and ended up smacking right into something. She fell off her broom and hit the floor for the second time that day. She got up angrily, and turned to see a young woman with blue hair and bright pink eyes.

"Oh!" she seemed delighted. "Look, look, it's the witch lady again!"

As Reiko looked around completely, she noticed three other people. A guy with green hair and glasses, a blonde with huge blue eyes and a girl with purplish-blue hair and green eyes.

She cursed. Now she remembered. These four were friends of Kakuzu's. She had wondered where they had went.

"Your monster wasn't hard to beat, you know," the green-haired guy smirked.

Reiko sighed.

Now they were making fun of her.

"Listen boy," she growled. "Just shut up and get ready to die. I got more important matters to deal with."

"I didn't think a person like you would be interested in killing," green-hair said. "The name's Izuno and I think you're way too attractive to be running around killing people."

Reiko stopped short.

The boy had good taste. Finally, someone could see her beauty, unlike a certain walking, talking jack o' lantern and red-head vixen.

"Your neck is nice too," Izuno continued. "Such nice structure."

Reiko grinned.

My goodness, what a flirt he was!

Suddenly, she felt a sharp pain in the side of her neck. The pain spread from her neck throughout her entire body.

She screamed in pain, falling to the ground. "What the heck did you do?"

"Well what do you know," said a familiar voice. "Akako-chan, it looks like the smuggler dude you beat up didn't lie about the poisonous darts."

Reiko could barely make out Tenko face, in her blurred world of agony. It was a face of satisfaction. Reiko knew Tenko had been the one to shoot the dart.

"You could have waited a little bit," Reiko heard Izuno say. "I was just getting started."

She could hear the one she remembered to be named Fuyumi scolding Izuno for his perverted behavior and then saw them leave down the hall where their friends were waiting. A second later, the hall was empty, except for herself, lying in evident pain.

_What a pitiful way to die_. She thought, as her world faded away.

* * *

Within the next minutes of Reiko's death, there was a sudden increase of creatures and monsters and they were not happy. Possibly, Reiko had made it so that if she were to die, these creatures would avenge her.

Erena's shooting abilities came in handy at this point. Nonetheless, they were able to defeat the monsters but it left Erena feeling uneasy. Erena hated the fact that she was incapable of protecting Sasori, Kakuzu and Hidan at the same time. She was confident that they most likely didn't need her help but she still worried. Which was why she had indiscreetly stuck some energy pills and healing meds in Sasori and Kakuzu's ninja bags. Now she tugged on Hidan's coat.

He turned and faced her. "What?"

Erena cursed, torn between two forms of worry.

Hidan was confused. "Uh, what's up?"

Erena reached into her pocket and pulled out a gun. Then she put it in Hidan's pocket. "Here. But use it only if necessary."

Hidan smirked. "Kakuzu will kill you if he finds out you gave me a gun."

"I know," Erena said, shaking her head in slight frustration. "But I dunno what else to do."

Hidan laughed a little at Erena's reaction. "Don't worry, I won't use it unless I have to. I promise."

"You'd better keep that promise," Erena's facial expression became severe to a terrifying extent and then softened. "Now c'mon, we're falling behind!"

"Okay!"

* * *

As they got farther into the mansion, the floor began resemble a checkerboard again. Meiko noticed this. She started to play the 'don't step on the crack' game. In her opinion, this outing was kinda fun. She liked doing most things if she was with her friends.

"Don't step on the crack, or you'll fall and break your back!" she sang.

Suddenly, the floor literally opened up under them.

Meiko was totally surprised. She didn't even step on the crack.

Now the group had been separated into those who had been able of get out of the way in time, and those who hadn't. Among those that weren't in the basement were Kakuzu, Sasori and Hidan since they had been walking in front and far enough away from the part of the floor that gave way. Erena had been able to leap to safety. Taemi was lucky enough to have been one inch out of the way of the floor giving in. Kakuzu had been able to grab Genmaru and Katamaru in time to save them as well.

Kakuzu heard Jack cackling. He looked and saw him standing in the doorway ahead. Jack smirked and then walked back into the room from where he came.

Kakuzu and the others followed.

They entered another chamber but the objects weren't floating in this one. It looked like a traditional, simple Japanese-style room. There was very little furniture and it was simplistic. If you looked closely you could see that the room was lined with ninja traps. Witch Fuji was sitting on some cushions, drinking a cup of tea. Jack stood next to her.

"So you all are the only ones who made it past our crumbling floor, hmm?" he said. "Lucky, lucky. You know why? Because, instead of getting brutally beaten by the creature awaiting under the floor you get to fall at our merciless hands."

"Don't get cocky, Jack," Erena growled. "First of all, our friends are capable of way more than you're giving them credit for, and, second of all, don't underestimate us."

"How about you do me the same favor?" he appeared behind her. She looked over her shoulder but he was gone again and by Witch Fuji's side.

"Foolish people," Fuji deadpanned. "Ah well. Guess we should get this over with. Ready, Jack?"

Jack gave his signature smirk. "Indeed. For I am a Jack-of-all-trades."

* * *

Meanwhile, the others had quite a predicament on their hands. They were in the midst of a battle with another gelatinous creature that had a gourd, plated with metal for a head and metal arms. This creature's gelatinous slime was a silvery color. The time before, Izuno had used a bomb to destroy the previous creature but this time after blowing the monster up he simply reassembled himself. They were at loss.

"Come on people!" Hareta said. "We've got to get rid of this thing and go find Kakuzu and the others. They might need us."

"I know," Izuno growled. "Don't rush me. I've got to figure out how to defeat this thing."

The creature swung it's huge metal arms at its opponents.

Akako jumped out the way and threw a grenade at the creature's arm. In the explosion part of the creature's arm was blown off. It roared in pain and a shining light glimmered from the destroyed section of it's arm.

Izuno stared at it. What was that light?

The creature came back at them and Sorami used her gun to shoot it in the head. It growled and came after her. Hareta threw a smoke bomb and pulled Sorami out of the way of the blast.

Izuno snapped his fingers. It finally made sense.

"The core is in his arm!" Izuno called.

"The core?" Fuyumi asked, turning to look at Izuno questioningly.

The creature swung it's claw at Fuyumi.

"Fuyumi, look out!" Izuno threw himself in front of Fuyumi and got flung into the wall.

Fuyumi threw another grenade and blew up another half of the creature's arm. The creature stepped back a little as Fuyumi ran to Izuno's side. Little did she noticed that a large, shining, orb-like object in the creature's was exposed now.

"You freakin' idiot!" Fuyumi yelled at Izuno, in frustration.

"Looks like he got hit pretty hard," Akako observed.

Fuyumi cursed repetitively. This is what she got for being useless. She hated herself so much right now.

"The core," Izuno said weakly. "It's his heart. You've got to shoot it."

Fuyumi shook her head to get herself together. This was no time for self-pity.

"What?" she asked Izuno. "His heart?"

"Shoot it."

"His heart…in his arm! Akako-chan! Shoot! Shoot the orb!"

Akako aimed her gun but the monster came at her. She was able to dodge but her gun got whacked out of her hand and her arm was cut. She cursed. Then she turned to Kuromi.

"Kuromi, shoot!"

Kuromi aimed. But then the thoughts of all the events past came back to her. She had missed, all those times.

She hesitated.

"Kuromi," Akako looked her in the eye. "Since when did you ever hesitate! Just effin' shoot!"

"I won't miss," Kuromi said, as she had many times before, but this time she was unsure.

"Guess what? I don't believe you. Prove me wrong. Do it!"

Kuromi gripped the gun in her hand and aimed. "I will _not_ miss!"

Then she shot the bullet and it pierced right through the creature's core.

The creature growled as the light of the core began to fade. Then it faltered and melted into a puddle.

"I told you," Kuromi said, nonchalantly to Akako.

Akako smiled at her friend. "Guess you did."

"At least somebody here is being useful," Fuyumi sighed, glaring at Izuno.

"You did well," Izuno told Fuyumi. "You reacted fast enough."

"You obviously hit your head too hard because you're not being obnoxious. Now shut up and rest."

Izuno winked at her. "Okay."

Suzuki cracked her knuckles. "Alright, Fuyumi-chan, stay here with Izuno-kun. We'll try to find a way out of here."

**_A/N: First thing I gotta say is, the Jack-of-all-trades joke... Yeah, that came to me when I was watching an episode of Black Butler (aka Kuroshitsuji) the other day. I thought about the fact that alot of the butlers in that manga/anime have some kind of catchphrase. Soooo, then I thought about Jack and wanted to give him a catchphrase as well. LOL. I used "Jack-of-all-trades". This IS a comedy, after all. XD This may lead to the question as to why Erena never had a catchphrase. Actually, I DID consider giving her at least something to call Kakuzu, Sasori and Hidan back when I first created her but then the idea of any of them being called goshujin-sama (master) or, even worse, having commonly used "yes, my lord" seems way to formal for Erena's personality and for her "masters". Second, alot of readers have been asked for pairings so I hope Izuno x Fuyumi pleases you guys! :D Okay, well arigato gozaimasu for reading! _**


	43. Chapter 43

_**I do not own Naruto but I DO own all of the OCs and this fanfiction.**_

Chapter 43: Witch Fuji's Reckless Ambition

Erena had always thought pumpkins were a real pain. In order to cook them, you have to gouge out all the disgusting goo on the inside, if you cook them wrong they're quite nasty, and the smell of a raw pumpkin made her want to gag. Because of her dislike of pumpkins, all her pumpkin related dishes turned out horrible leading her to hate them even more. Of course, now she had an even deeper hate of pumpkins, considering a pumpkin headed butler named Jack, was trying to stab her with a knife and spill _her_ guts at this exact moment.

Jack was extremely fast, and she let out a little shriek as Jack pinned her apron to the floor. She knew the solution to this problem was undesirable but easy, so she simply ripped her apron and jumped out of Jack's way.

Witch Fuji was standing nearby, but, oddly enough, she wasn't moving at all. She was just watching. Kakuzu was keeping an eye on her as was Fuji keeping an eye on her opponents. Meanwhile, Taemi was using the situation to her advantage, pulling a long knife with an extremely sharp blade out of her pocket, and made a move at Jack. At the same time, Erena fired her gun. Jack was somehow able to dodge both of the assualts, with extreme accuracy.

Erena preceeded by calling Jack a synonym for a donkey.

Hidan stifled a laugh.

Jack gave a look of exasperation. "Could you be any more vulgar?"

"With a name like Jack, you were asking for it," Erena smirked.

"Are you interested in turning up the heat?"

"Hm?"

Jack snapped his fingers and his gloved hands caught on fire yet, he nor his gloves were burning. Jack came back at Erena, who jumped over his head.

"That's it!" Erena growled. "Time to pull out the big gun! Literally!"

With this she pulled out a gigantic gun. It was an elaborate bazooka capable of shooting air, water, fire, explosives and acid.

"I know I shouldn't be getting these illegal guns," she confessed. "Frankly, I can't help it. And I am so glad for that fact."

With this she released a gigantic shot of explosives, that blew Jack to pieces. His detached limbs rained down like snow.

Witch Fuji glared at Erena, picking up one of Jack's arms. "That was awfully cruel."

Erena smiled, satisfied with her victory.

Suddenly, Jack's pieces started to rattle. In a split second they began to float and reassemble themselves until, once again, Jack was standing right in front of them as a whole being.

Hidan shook his head. "I think we attract immortals, Kakuzu."

"It seems so," Kakuzu sighed.

"If you have any idea how to, stop attracting them please!" Erena said, still a bit flustered.

Witch Fuji handed Jack his right arm.

"Thank you, Miss Fuji," he said, as he reattached his arm.

"Let's switch it up," Fuji suggested.

"Ah? Very well then." With this, Witch Fuji and Jack came at Erena and Taemi.

Erena was about to shoot but Fuji possessed an incredible amount of speed. She was able to grab Erena's arm easily and diverted the shot of water. The mere force of it's impact on the reenforced walls reverbrated in a way that made it feel like the foundation shook. Jack jumped over Erena and Taemi's heads and went straight for Hidan. Genmaru pulled out a crowbar and blocked Jack.

"I've always wanted to use a crowbar on someone," Genmaru grinned.

"I've always wanted to use a grenade on a pumpkin-headed butler," Katamaru joked as he threw a grenade at Jack causing him to fall back.

Now Sasori opened a new scroll Hidan had never seen before and in a poof of smoke two puppets appeared.

Everyone stopped short. The two puppets were two witches. Fuji recognized them to be Misaki and Akemi. The two witches who had recently died of suffocation before they could starve to death after being trapped in bottles.

"Sasori, what are those?" Hidan questioned.

"Remember when Fuyumi-chan and Izuno-kun told us about fighting those two witches? Well, I simply looked into the matter. It turns out witches' corpses are great for making puppets."

The Misaki puppet shot poison darts out of its mouth at Jack while the Akemi puppet blocked any of Jack's blows with its forcefield abilites.

At this moment, Taemi pinned Fuji to the floor and stabbed her. "You should pay more attention."

Fuji smiled. "If you're immortal, you don't need to."

With this Fuji released an unreal gust of wind.

Taemi and Erena were blown back fiercely; Kakuzu caught the two of them.

In the huge blast of air, many things were destroyed, including a vase nearby on a table. It crashed to the floor. Fuji's eyes widened in horror and Jack gave a look of slight despair.

Everyone was confused. Witch Fuji had only knocked over a simple vase but she and Jack looked as if the end of the world was coming.

Suddenly snakes, spiders and millions of other disgusting creatures began to appear.

Witch Fuji and Jack stopped short. A look of surprise mixed with slight wariness passed over Fuji's face. At this moment, a small vortex of darkness opened in the room, next to Witch Fuji. Fuji's gasped.

"What the heck is going on?" she yelled, as it slowly sucked her in.

"You just made quite the mistake, Fuji," a dark voice boomed.

Fuji cursed. "That was a mistake! Isn't the priority to-"

"Silence you fool! You are at my mercy."

Fuji's body slowly got sucked in the dark portal. Jack grabbed his mistress' arm.

"Jack, what're you doing?" Fuji snapped. "At this rate-!"

"I will go wherever my mistress goes," Jack returned, smiling. "Always."

With this they were both sucked into the portal and it closed behind them.

That was it. Witch Fuji and Jack were gone. Seemingly, for good.

"Now, come face your doom, all of you," the dark voice cackled. "I'll be waiting."

* * *

Going farther into the huge house, they came to what seemed like last part of the house. It was obviously the living quarters due to the large amount of bedrooms. At the end of the hall was a spiral staircase (of doom). They presumed it led up to this "Mistress" everyone kept mentioning. Suddenly, Kakuzu's phone rang again. He answered it.

"Where are you?" Hareta blurted from the other end.

"Seemingly near this 'Mistress' person," Kakuzu answered. "We seem to have reached the only part of the house we haven't explored yet. Upstairs, on the northern side."

"Listen to me. Apparently, the hole we fell down led to the basement. And it's like a labyrinth! There's alot of stuff down here. There's even a library full of spell books and whatnot! I'm texting you all some info right now. We'll try to help out by sending you info as we go. We'll try to find you guys after this."

"That's fine with me. We'll most likely be done before you find us."

"You cocky idiots." Hareta chuckled and then hung up.

Kakuzu turned to the others. "Erena-chan, Taemi-chan, you two guard the hallway. With all these creatures crawling around we need defenses."

"Understood," Erena said firmly.

Taemi nodded.

"Hidan, Genmaru-kun and Katamaru, you three stay here," Kakuzu continued. "Sasori, you're with me."

Suddenly, a look of fear crossed Katamaru's face, "Kakuzu, look out!"

No one had noticed the clawed half-cat-half-lion creature behind Kakuzu. Kakuzu didn't have a second to even turn around; the creature's claws were right at his neck. At that moment, a gunshot was heard and the cat-like creature fell to the ground and dispersed into smoke.

That was when Kakuzu realized Hidan had shot the creature. With a gun.

Kakuzu's eyes widened. There was silence for a moment.

Kakuzu narrowed his eyes at Hidan. "Who gave you the gun?"

_Yup, that's about right._ Erena sighed mentally.

Katamaru facepalmed, laughing. "Oh wow, really Kakuzu?"

Hidan grinned, feeling proud of himself.

"Never mind," Kakuzu sighed. "We'll deal with this gun business after this is over. Katamaru, keep Hidan out of trouble."

"That was aimed specifically at me?" Katamaru asked, astonished.

"No, but Genmaru already knows I trust him."

With this Sasori and Kakuzu turned and started their way up the staircase. To either their victory of their death.

**_A/N: I tried to make a point in this chapter to emphasize the standing relationships of the characters (Hidan and Kakuzu's friendship, Erena and Jack's loyalty to their 'masters,' Kakuzu's growing acceptance of Katamaru, ect.) as the relationships make a difference here. I hope I did well, I was on a tight schedule. ^-^; About the vase, you'll learn about that soon. Also, I have once again updated the character picture database on my profile so check it out. Thanks for reading! ;D_**


	44. Chapter 44

**_I don't own Naruto but I DO own this fanfiction and all the OCs._**

**_A/N: This was originally going to be split into two chapters but I felt it was better as a whole so you guys can still read it as two parts._**

Chapter 44: The Mistress, The Library and a Dilemma

Upon entering the door at the top of the staircase, it became dark. Extremely dark. Walking carefully, wary of the possibility of traps Kakuzu and Sasori made their way down a dark hallway. Along the spans of the hallway, there were about two windows in all. The sounds of scurrying spiders, slithering snakes and numerous unidentifiable creatures was the only thing to be heard besides their own footsteps. At the end of this disgusting, foreboding hall was a wooden double door. Gothic engravings decorated the dark, mahogany wood. They opened the doors and saw a room filled hues of purple, forest green, midnight blue and black. It was a rather open, lavish room. Quite Gothic but overall comfortable with it's expensive furniture and decorations. Sitting on the midnight blue and black sofa was a woman with dark hair tied into a messy bun and dark blueish-green eyes. Her black dress came past her knees; she wore lace-up boots and lots of jewelry. She was drinking something out of a fancy glass.

"Well, well," she said. "I finally get to meet you both face to face."

Kakuzu and Sasori didn't move a muscle. Who knew what she was planning.

"Would you like a drink?" she asked.

She twirled her finger and a tray with two glasses on it floated over to Kakuzu and Sasori. The liquid in the cups were green with pink swirls in it and smelled like freshly cut grass.

Kakuzu and Sasori declined.

"You obviously don't want to talk this over," the Mistress crossed her legs. "Or, so I'm assuming, since you didn't bring the boy. We could've made a deal. I can give your whatever you want, you know."

"You really think after all this fighting we'd stike up a deal with you?" Kakuzu asked.

The woman smirked. "I was hoping you'd say that. Honestly, ever since I saw you three for the first time in my crystal ball, I've wanted to spill your guts. I'm sure you have such vibrant, red blood. Not to mention you need to pay for causing Fuji to knock over that vase. You know it contained the concentrated essence of one thousand Gothic fairies?"

Sasori smirked. "Don't disappointed when we kill you, Mistress."

"My real name is Rin. I've been called 'The Mistress' for as long as I can remember for everyone is my servant. You should be happy to have been told the truth before your death. You're quite lucky."

A green aura glowed around her hands then she smashed her hand into the floor. The floor didn't give at all but vibration pushed Kakuzu and Sasori back.

What a huge burst of energy! The aura surrounding this woman was darker than night itself.

"Let me ask you a question," Kakuzu said.

"Go ahead," she replied. "It doesn't mean I'll answer though."

"Why would you want to strike a deal with us?"

Rin laughed lightly. "Because I'm so impatient."

"Impatient?"

"Yes, if you were to hand over the boy and leave I could get right to the 'dissecting' and whatnot but here you've brought backup and-"

"'Dissecting?'"

"Well yes, you could call it that. I want the power from the mahoko, you see. I mean sure, my 'specimen' may die and the mahoko too but I'd still get the power due to my skillful magic abilities. So what better way to get to it than by the most enjoyable way possible?"

"That's inhumane."

"Your point?"

She smirked and then came after them, throwing the table directly at them. Sasori and Kakuzu dodged. That's was it. No one deserved to fall into this woman's hands.

Sasori used his two new puppets to attack her with poison darts and screech waves. Nonetheless, this woman was fast. Quickly, she flipped backwards, suspending the table in midair with her foot and then kicking towards Kakuzu and Sasori. The two of them split up, Sasori using his Akemi puppet to break the table. Kakuzu came from behind with a punch ready but Rin met him hand to hand. Before he might have been surprised by her strength but he recalled his fight with Kaori. Kakuzu twisted her arm; Rin retaliated by turning and actually throwing him. Now this surprised both Sasori and Kakuzu.

"You're good," Kakuzu brushed himself off.

"I've had 75 years of experience, not counting the years before my twelfth birthday," she grinned.

"How unfortunate. I've had more experience than you."

* * *

Meanwhile, Hareta and the others were searching in the library located in the maze of a basement the witches had for something that could be of use to everyone. The library was extremely elaborate excluding it's plain stone floors. It was lit by elaborate candelabras that illuminated the intricate wisteria, rose and thorn engravings in the wooden bookshelves. All sorts of books on the Witches' Realm, spell books and journals from witches that had passed away long ago filled the shelves. It was really a gold mine in this particular situation. Or so one would think. Frankly, it's almost impossible to understand if you're not a being from one of the magical realms talked about in these books. This frustrated Hareta to no end. Then, her phone rang. The caller was Mari who Hareta recalled to be the determined little girl who found out their secret. Seemingly, Mari had called Hidan. He had told her that Hareta and the others were in the witches' library. Mari was eager to tell her a rather helpful piece of news.

"Witches are vulnerable to select spells including certain ones that they themselves cast," Mari explained. "You said there are spell books there, right? See if you can find one that specifies it's dangerous to witches and then pass it on to Kakuzu-san."

Hareta grinned. This was exactly what she needed to make this work.

At the same time, Erena and Taemi were busy trying to destroy another glob monster similar to the ones from before. This one was a pinkish color and was not vulnerable to fire, making the fire setting on Erena's bazooka useless.

Thankfully, these fire-retardant glob monsters were very weak. A couple of blasts of air or water from Erena's bazooka or a few skillful slices of Taemi's blade and the creature was dead. The problem was the multitude of these things. Also, a few small creatures were attempting to make their way by. Erena and Taemi were able to keep them back, but it wasn't easy.

Erena wondered if her masters were having a better time.

* * *

Sasori's heart sunk as he heard the sickening smash of his new puppets being broken to bits. What exactly had happened? Well, to put it simply, Rin was extremely fast, efficient and strong when it came to physical attacks. She was about to physically assault them and rip them to shreds when Sasori used his Misaki and Akemi puppets to block it, but they had been crushed in the process.

"Nice block," Kakuzu said.

Sasori could only grit his teeth. "Do you know how long it took to figure out how to make those so that their powers were still intact?"

"No idea."

Sasori just rolled his eyes.

"Don't you think it's about time we even the odds?"

Sasori's smirked. "Fine." He took off his jacket, revealing his attack mode.

Rin studied him; Sasori got ready to fight her, but the words that came out of her mouth were not expected.

She smiled a bit. "Was that supposed to have an effect on me? Strip shows really aren't my thing."

Sasori twitched; Kakuzu stifled a laugh.

Sasori used his stinger to go after Rin. "Die, witch!"

Rin was able to dodge the poisonous tip of that weird coil in his body but was completely caught off guard by a powerful blast of water from the blasters installed in his hands. Before she could even get up she was bombarded with a blast of fire and then another blast of water.

Kakuzu then kicked her into the wall.

"I'm guessing she immortal," Kakuzu told Sasori.

"So are we," Sasori replied. "Let's find out how immortal she is."

Rin got up quickly. "Da'k Cuniansuun!"

Suddenly, everything was in a dark, haze and a horrible, consuming feeling over came Kakuzu and Sasori, like they were actually being eaten alive. They were unable to think straight or see clearly; it was even making it difficult to move. Kakuzu felt something slash him. He wanted to move but the haze was getting thicker and thicker. He heard Rin's laugh faintly, like it was far off. Sasori could slightly tell what was going on, maybe due to the fact that he wasn't exactly human. This darkness was driving him crazy. He hated it. He forced himself up a little and then made out Rin's figure in the haze. He came at her best as he could and stabbed her in the side, breaking the haze. Everything was back to normal.

Rin cursed. "I've had enough of you two."

Suddenly, Kakuzu's phone rang.

Kakuzu answered it, and no sooner than he had said "hello" Rin raised her hands. Her hands began to glow an eerie purple.

"Kakuzu-kun!" Hareta spoke quickly. "There is a spell that witches are completely vulnerable to regardless of what kind of witch they are. It's inescapable. The catch is: humans can't escape it either."

"Oh really?" Kakuzu asked, throwing the battered table at Rin, who dodged easily. "What spell is it?"

At that moment, the words that came out of Rin's mouth were the same as Hareta's: "Rift of Hopelessness!"

The Rift of Hopelessness was a huge, gaping portal of darkness exactly like the one that had consumed Jack and Fuji.

"Well this is great," Sasori said, sarcastically. "Just wonderful."

At this exact moment, Rin, once again succeeded in throwing Kakuzu.

This pissed Kakuzu off.

And so another attack-dodge cycle began.

Kakuzu and Sasori knew that the key to this was to simply push Rin into the Rift of Hopelessness.

That would be easier said than done.

* * *

Meanwhile, Genmaru, Katamaru and Hidan were waiting downstairs.

Apparently, Erena and Taemi had accidentally let a creature through. This thing was part scorpion and part spider and was the size of a small dog. Twice the poison and twice the creepiness. How wonderful.

Genmaru approached the creature carefully.

"If you get yourself killed it's your own fault," Katamaru said.

"Are you saying that because you're standing all the way over there with Hidan and aren't helping?" Genmaru asked.

Katamaru refused to reply.

The spider-scorpion hissed at Genmaru showing it's huge, poisonous fangs.

Katamaru and Hidan's eyes widened.

That was one huge bug.

Genmaru dodged a flick of its poisonous tail and hit it with his crowbar.

The spider-scorpion cried out in pain but retaliated but trying to bite Genmaru. Genmaru flipped backwards.

"This would be easier with two people," Genmaru looked at Katamaru.

"But Kakuzu told me to protect Hidan-kun," Katamaru smirked.

Genmaru rolled his eyes.

At that point a creature came from the side, this one being a falcon with glowing red eyes and abnormally sharp claws.

Katamaru pulled Hidan out the way as Genmaru crushed the falcon's skull, bringing his crowbar down on it's head right before it attacked. The falcon fell to the ground, not moving at all. At this moment, the spider-scorpion was close enough to stab all of them but Katamaru quickly pulled out a gun and shot it.

Genmaru and Hidan stared at Katamaru.

"You had a gun?" Genmaru asked. "And you didn't use it to help?"

Katamaru shrugged; Genmaru sighed.

"It seems like that's the last of 'em," Genmaru looked around. "I wonder where they came from."

"Don't ask me," Katamaru said. "Maybe Erena-san and Taemi-san missed them."

"Erena-chan's not one to miss anything."

Genmaru pondered this deeply.

At this moment, Katamaru felt Hidan pull on his shirt slightly.

Katamaru turned; Hidan looked like he was in pain.

"What?" Katamaru asked. "Is something wro-"

Then a realization hit Genmaru and Katamaru.

The only thing they could say was, "Oh crap."

**_A/N: As usual thanks for reading everyone! One thing people may wonder is, if that vase of souls was so important to Rin why would she put it in a place that it could so easily be destroyed? Well, put simply, she's just evil like that; she was partially hoping someone might knock it over one day so she could punish them. ^-^; I hope I lived up to your standards once again. Arigato! :)_**


	45. Chapter 45

**_I do not own Naruto but I DO own all the OCs in this fic, and this fic itself._**

A katana was now in Rin's hand. It gleamed and shimmered in the light, shining a beautiful silver. And a deep shade of red. Rin felt very pleased with herself as she admired the vibrant, red blood glistening on the katana. That same blood was dripping down Kakuzu's arm. Rin was not only fast and a skilled magic user, but very skilled with the katana. At that moment Rin came forward at an impeccable speed with nothing to be heard but a slight pattering sound from her swift feat. It took a lot of skill for Kakuzu to dodge her quick moves and Sasori was unable to hit her at such a speed. Rin was coming at them in a patterned manner and forcing them closer and closer to the Rift of Hopelessness. Rin moved closer, trying to cut Kakuzu a second time, eyeing the blood dripping from the wound on his arm manaically.

"Give me more, my dear!" she laughed. "I want more! A huge bloodbath will make a delightful show!"

Finally, an idea struck Kakuzu and that idea was exactly what he needed. He eyed Sasori, telling him his idea with his eyes. Sasori understood; he moved back slightly and went on the defense. Kakuzu let down his defenses and allowed Rin to cut him again. A crazy kind of pleasure lit Rin's eyes with undeniable bloodlust.

"What, do you give up?" Rin asked, getting happier by the minute, making another slice. "Am I too good for you?"

Kakuzu didn't respond.

"Okay then, let's see what happens if I spill your guts right now?"

She raised her katana but then stopped. She couldn't move. She felt something holding her back. Then she realized the tiny chakra strings Sasori had attached to her limbs.

Rin was in shock. This couldn't be; she was the ultimate. There was no way she would be beaten by a puppet and a zombie freak.

Rin twisted in frustration and tried her very hardest to free herself from Sasori's threads but she barely moved an inch.

Suddenly, she started to move involuntarily. Sasori began to raise her arms up above her head. Rin's katana was pointed right at herself.

"Now this is entertainment," Kakuzu smirked at Rin.

With this, Sasori brought Rin's hands down.

Rin sputtered insults and curses at her two opponents as she stabbed herself.

Kakuzu gave her a kick in the face. "You should keep your mouth shut."

Rin shook in frustration. She released a huge, unidentifiable blast of dark magic. Whatever it was, it disoriented Sasori, causing the chakra strings to be weakened enough to break. She pulled the katana out of herself and came at Kakuzu in renewed anger.

But, Kakuzu simply stepped to the side.

Rin ended up sliding right to the Rift of Hopelessness.

It sucked her in as she attempted to grasp onto things to save herself.

She gave one last look at everything around her. Her opponents and everything she'd once had.

"I will never forget you," Rin growled she she disappeared. "Do you hear me? Mark my-!"

Before she could finish her sentence she was gone and the portal closed up behind her.

Sasori and Kakuzu slumped to the ground in exhaustion.

"When I was a kid, I hated stories with witches, you know that?" Sasori mumbled. "Now, I can justifiably say I had a good reason to do so."

Kakuzu chuckled slightly. "Don't you think there's a reason that witch is the same as a certain other word? It just has a w instead of a b."

"That wasn't very nice," a voice said.

Suddenly and cold splash of water hit the both of them.

What in the world?

They turned and saw Shinzouko, Kanjou and Seishin.

"You're kidding right?" Kakuzu said, exasperated. "We're not in the mood to-!"

"I healed you guys, dummy," Shinzouko said. "And restored your chakra."

"Huh?"

At this moment, Kakuzu noticed his wounds were gone; the both of them noticed that they were definently feeling replenished.

"We're leaving now," Seishin explained. "There's no one left but us. We have no business here."

Kakuzu and Sasori stood, still a bit skeptical of the three girls.

"Don't be so weary of us!" Kanjou snapped. "If we wanted to harm you we wouldn't have healed you first."

With this the three of them turned and opened a portal, presumably one back to the Witches' Realm.

"See ya, Puppet Boy," Kanjou smirked. With this she and her sister left through the portal.

Shinzouko gave Kakuzu a quick kiss on the cheek.

"I hope I'll get to see you again someday, Kakuzu-kun!," she smiled. "I guess you two should get going now. Bye-bye!"

With this she disappeared.

Now Kakuzu and Sasori turned to go downstairs.

**_A/N: Thanks for reading everyone! I heard many requests for Kakuzu x Shinzouko so here ya go. It's super slight, I know, but I don't have much room for all my requests. ^-^; I also put slight, implied Sasori x Kanjou. So, that being said, keep R&R-ing everyone! Thanks! _**


	46. Chapter 46

**_I do not own Naruto but I DO own all the OCs in this fic and this fic itself._**

When Sasori and Kakuzu got to the hallway, Katamaru greeted them with a slightly pissed off facial expression. Hidan was holding on to him.

"Where have you been at a time like this?" he yelled. "And why aren't you answering your phone?"

Genmaru gave Katamaru an annoyed look. "You're so high-strung."

"I'm confused as to why you're so calm!"

Sasori sighed. "What are you guys going on about?"

"It's time," Genmaru replied simply.

At first it completely flew over Sasori and Kakuzu's heads. "What?"

"Kakuzu," Hidan said. "The baby's coming!"

"What!"

Kakuzu then noticed his phone wasn't in his pocket. He thought back to the moment after Hareta had called him when Rin had thrown him (for the second time). He realized his phone must've fallen out his pocket.

Kakuzu cursed. "You should've called Sasori."

"Sasori-kun forgot to charge his phone apparently," Katamaru replied. "And there were way too many creatures to get to you guys directly."

Just as Sasori was about to make up some excuse Erena and Taemi came up the stairs.

"We got rid of all the monsters," Erena smiled but then stopped short. "What's going on?"

About that moment Hidan's water broke.

It took Taemi only about 5 seconds to grasp the situation but it took Erena only 2 seconds to faint.

Katamaru grabbed on to Hidan and helped support him.

Kakuzu turned to Genmaru and Katamaru. "Get me some clean washcloths and warm water. Bring it to the bedroom one door down from here."

Genmaru was gone in a second; Katamaru hesitated.

Kakuzu read his mind. "I got Hidan, you go."

With this Katamaru left too.

"What are you doing?" Sasori asked, partially not wanting to know.

"Help me get Hidan to a bed, Sasori," Kakuzu ordered. "I guess we're lucky the witches were still living here."

Hidan grasped onto Kakuzu.

Kakuzu supported him. "We're here for you."

Sasori shook his head. He did not want to be involved in this.

* * *

When Katamaru and Genmaru got back, the first thing that came out of Katamaru's mouth is, "You're out of your mind Kakuzu!"

"Why?" Kakuzu asked, simply.

"Don't we need a professional for this kind of thing?"

"I've delivered a baby more than once Katamaru. My mother was an obstetrician. When she had busy days she'd have me take care of some deliveries."

"But have you ever done it on a boy before?" Sasori questioned, a bit warily.

"I told you it was the same thing," Kakuzu replied.

Everyone was confused as to how exactly that could be true.

Kakuzu took notice of their confused facial expressions. "I told you before that a mahoko could make certain needed changes on it's own to help itself survive. So basically what happens is a temporary, partial gender change I guess you could say. It undoes itself after birth."

Sasori's face froze in a position of utter shock.

"Same thing I thought," Hidan managed between breaths.

"Get a hold of yourself Sasori," Kakuzu shook his head. "And Hidan quit hyperventilating."

"I'm not," he said but was taken aback by another contraction.

"Just breathe, Hidan. Stay calm okay. Hold on to Sasori and Katamaru's hands."

Sasori shot Kakuzu a look of annoyance and then anger when Hidan almost literally crushed his hand. Sasori could've sworn he actually felt pain.

Katamaru walked over to the side of the bed.

"Why don't you hold his hand, Kakuzu," he teased.

"Then you check and see if he's dilated," Kakuzu returned. "Or you can hold his legs."

"Nevermind!"

* * *

A while later Taemi had finally managed to get Erena on her feet again down the hall a little ways. Taemi seems to others like a quite cold woman but she actually had a kind heart. She was a bit worried so she told Erena to stay where she was made her way down the hall to where Kakuzu and the others were. As she entered the room she was glad she had told Erena to stay put.

"Now push," Kakuzu was instructing Hidan.

"I am!" Hidan groaned.

"Easy, easy. You're doing fine. Keep breathing."

"Do you need my help?" Taemi asked.

"No," Kakuzu replied. "You're fine where you are."

"Sasori-kun and Katamaru-kun look like they need help."

Sasori seemed awfully displeased with the situation. Katamaru seemed more displeased that he was stuck where he was.

"I swear I'm gonna need a new hand after this," Sasori murmured. "Every time Hidan has a contraction he attempts to break my hand."

"At least you can make yourself a new hand," Katamaru smirked. "My texting hand can't be replaced."

At that moment, Hidan had another contraction.

"Push!" Kakuzu instructed.

Hidan wasn't the only one who yelled; Sasori thought he heard his hand crack.

* * *

A while later, Erena was starting to worry. She thought it was awfully mean of Taemi to leave her in the hallway on her own. Especially when she could still hear things going on down the hallway. She knew she was a very capable maid and she always tried her best but this was one situation she was not cut out for. That made her feel slightly guilty and she wondered what would've happen if she wouldn't have fainted when they taught her about childbirth in school. But she knew she felt that this was taking way too long. It sounded painful. Was it supposed to take so long? She started to feel nervous. What if something was wrong?

About now Tenko was making her way up the stairs.

"'Sup," Tenko greeted. "I came up here ahead of the others to see what was up."

"Wait a moment," Erena took off down the hall; she needed to check on her masters.

"Okay?"

Tenko was confused. What was going on? She sat down on the floor, cross-legged.

Next thing you know she heard a scream and then an "oh my gosh". She ran down the hall and stopped short in the doorway.

"What the hell?" she screamed.

Sasori looked like he was about to pass out and Katamaru was shaking his hand in pain. Erena, who had been standing up only a moment ago, had fainted (again). Plus, there were four little newborns.

What had just happened here?

So, yes, in the end Hidan gave birth to quadruplets, two boys and two girls. The first was a boy with black hair and a streak of white down the front. The second was a girl with pink hair. The third, was a feminine looking boy with dark blue hair and the fourth a girl with white hair.

"I'm lost," Tenko said, simply.

"Hidan doesn't make anything easy," Kakuzu joked. "He decided to have four babies instead of one."

It took a moment for Tenko to take it all in. "Okay then..."

"I got in on tape using my cellphone if you want to see-!"

"No!" Tenko objected. "It's already creepy enough we have four man babies. I don't wanna see them being born."

"Fine, fine."

Tenko shook her head at her odd friends. "What about you Hidan? Are you okay after all that?"

"Yes, I'm fine," he replied. "Still in shock, but fine...They're cute though."

He smiled.

No one could say they weren't slightly terrified by that last comment.

Careful Hidan, parenting isn't easy.

**_A/N: ;o Thank you for reading everyone! I tried my best! I tried to make it comical and dramatic at the same time. I also tried to show the more human sides of my characters in this chapter. I really hope I delivered...you know it's so hilarious how I just typed that so I'm going to leave that there. XD No pun intended (originally, anyways). Also, a special thanks to HeavenlyWolfDemon who's been helping me with this story behind the scenes for a long time now. Arigato gozaimasu everyone!_**


	47. Chapter 47

**_I don't own Naruto but I DO own this fanfiction and all the OCs._**

Chapter 47: Something to Look Forward To...?

The sun was shining and the birds were chirping happily in the neighborhood. Everything was back to normal. Or, as normal as life can be in this story anyway.

It had been a day since Hidan had given birth to the quadruplets. Kakuzu was sitting next to Hidan's bed and the quads lay peacefully in their crib. Kakuzu looked at Hidan with a serious look on his face.

"So you have researched parenting, right?"

"Yes, although I'm not sure if I'll be really good at it yet…," Hidan replied.

Kakuzu gave a look of slight annoyance. "Everyone went through a lot of trouble to get this far. I don't want you messing it up the first chance you get, although that's traditionally how you work."

"Well, I don't really think you should worry about it that much," Hidan gave a smirk. "After all, I have you, Sasori, Erena-chan and Taemi-chan to help me out."

Kakuzu sighed. "Once you're out of bed I'm going to hurt you."

Hidan laughed. At least Kakuzu was in a good mood at the moment. Kakuzu always acted angry, but it seemed to Hidan that he was having fun with it at the moment because he didn't have that dark aura around him. Maybe the thought of soon being able to beat up his partner was putting him in a good mood. Either that or that fact that he had just killed "The Mistress" Rin. Hidan decided it didn't matter what it was, but what the result from whatever it was was...if that makes any sense. It looked like everyone could finally rest.

* * *

A month later…

The snow was melting and the sakura were about ready to bloom. The bushes and flowers were about to begin growing again.

Kakuzu was worried about a completely different thing growing. He had run across a rather interesting piece of information on mahoko. That is why, he gathered everyone in the living room moments later. Taemi happened to be visiting at the moment, so she was obliged to come as well.

"What's the problem," Hidan inquired of Kakuzu.

He was holding his youngest son who he named Hikari.

Hikari was contently holding a stuffed doll and looking about inquisitively with his large, sapphire eyes that matched his unique hair color.

The youngest of the quadruplets, who had been named Inako, was watching Kakuzu with her vivid, purple eyes, almost as if she was waiting to see what he would say. Her frost-colored hair was hidden under a blanket which she had become awfully fond of, seemingly preferring to be hidden under things.

"I ran across a bit of information this morning," Kakuzu began. "It seems that mahoko sometimes take on the powers of other mythological-or rather, what are thought to be mythological-creatures if they are subjected to some form of magic before taking a host."

Everyone took a second to think.

Sasori sighed. "Dare I ask, is this a negative thing?"

"Well, not necessarily," Kakuzu replied.

"'Not necessarily?'" Hidan echoed, a trace of worry crossing his face.

"They might not have even been exposed to any magic. There would be no problem then. You wouldn't really know until they get to a certain age, although growth rates of a mahoko can fluctuate…"

"Huh?"

"Yes."

At that moment something hard hit Kakuzu in the back of the head. Kakuzu turned to see the oldest of the quadruplets, named Kuramaru, giggling triumphantly.

Kakuzu rubbed the back of his head and growled at Hidan. "You'd best get him to stop doing that, just in case he ends up with super strength or something."

Kuramaru mimicked Kakuzu, playfully rubbing his own head, ruffling his oddly-colored black-and-white streaked hair. His eyes were wine-colored, just like his father's…or mother's…or whatever.

"I doubt it should be a problem, Kakuzu-sama," Erena smiled. "We've dealt with much worse over the past seven months, right?"

"Indeed," Taemi agreed. "…Unless one of them turns out to be a witch."

Sasori twitched and Hidan shuddered.

Taemi noticed the sudden silence and quickly tried to correct her mistake. "…Nevermind, I doubt that'll happen."

Kakuzu pinched the bridge of his nose and then glanced at the four babies. He took notice of what the oldest daughter, Nashiko, was doing.

"I'm most worried about what she might be," Kakuzu said, gesturing to Nashiko.

The four adults in the room looked at Nashiko to see her adjusting the yellow ribbons in her pink hair and looking fondly at her male dolls with her pink eyes. Then she kissed one of the male dolls happily.

"Oh crap…" Hidan managed.

Taemi chuckled, a bit darkly, and then said, "This will be a lot of fun."

**_A/N: Thanks for reading everyone! Sorry it took so long to write this, I've had a lot of studying to do but now I hope to get back to writing! :) Thank you for being patient and I hope you enjoyed the chapter. This chapter was supposed to sought of introduce the quadruplets, in a way. Alot of people wondered how Hidan was going to feed his babies, lol. But they drink baby formula so there will be no odd things going on here. X) Anyways, hope you liked it. Arigato! _**


	48. Chapter 48

**_I don't own Naruto but I DO own this fanfiction and all the OCs._**

Chapter 48: The Deal With Stalkers?

Kakuzu was not pleased.

Why? For the usual reason, which would be his annoying partner in crime Hidan. He had put up with this freak's nonsense every day for the sake of his "job". He had taken care of Hidan the six months he was pregnant and now he wanted him to babysit?

"It's only for a little while," Hidan was saying. "Besides I'm only asking you to babysit Inako and Nashiko. I've got Hikari; Erena and Taemi can handle Kuramaru. Not to mention the fact that Sasori is here to help you."

Kakuzu growled in apparent disdain.

Sasori just simply ignored the situation for the time being. He had known this would happen; it was inevitable so he was just going to refrain from thinking about it until it was necessary for him to think about it.

Inako seemed to be just as nonchalant about the situation as Sasori was and Nashiko was preoccupied by her male dolls. Kuramaru was playing with a stuffed soldier doll with Erena.

"I have an errand to run," Kakuzu said.

"You only need to pick up something down the street," Hidan argued. "You could just take them with you. Or wait until I get back."

Kakuzu huffed stubbornly.

Sasori now changed his mind. This was taking too long. He just wanted to get it over with.

"Just agree to do it Kakuzu," Sasori said. "It's shouldn't be all that hard for someone like you."

Kakuzu pinched the bridge of his nose.

He sighed. "Fine."

Hidan gave a triumphant smile.

He then proceeded to pat the heads of his two content daughters. "Be good for Kakuzu, my cutie-wootie, sweetie-weeties."

Kakuzu twitched. "Please refrain from doing that. It's downright disturbing."

"Just shut up."

Hidan then pat Kuramaru on the head, took Hikari and headed out.

There was a moment of silence. Then Sasori finally spoke up.

"Just making a point," he said. "If you mess up Hidan will most likely go on a frantic killing spree, Leader-sama will be completely furious and you probably won't get paid. Just saying."

* * *

Shortly after this, Hidan was reaching the plaza that was a little ways from the apartment, at which he was supposed to be meeting Katamaru. Regardless of the shopping plaza being relatively small compared to other plazas, it was already bustling with people. Since it was a Saturday many people who were off work or off from school were filling the place; schoolgirls, skaters, young women, little children and shoppers. Amidst this jumble of people, Katamaru stood by the fountain, hands in his pockets, looking slightly out of place with his expensive jacket and designer jeans. Even more so when Hidan stepped up next to him, in greeting, wearing his punky ensemble.

"Took you long enough," Katamaru said, while texting. That was his odd way of greeting people.

Hidan was used to be greeted in such a way by more people than him. "Hey Katamaru-kun."

Hikari waved, cooing a greeting.

Katamaru walked off to the side and motioned for Hidan to follow him. He stopped at a little patio behind a small bistro.

Looking around, to see if anyone was within earshot, he finally said, "I'm being stalked."

Hidan gave a look of surprise. "Stalked?"

"Yes, stalked."

"And you can't take care of something like that on your own? I mean, I thought you were 'famous'. Haven't you been stalked before?"

"Not like this. This girl is nuts!"

"Who's nuts?" asked a voice.

Katamaru jumped, covering his mouth to keep from screaming.

Behind him was Tenko who was obviously getting one heck of a kick out of Katamaru. In her fierce, punkish, ecclectic street getup, it would be natural for someone to jump at the sight of such a jumble of prints.

Katamaru swore at Tenko.

"So who's nuts?" Tenko asked, ignoring Katamaru.

"Apparently, Katamaru-kun's being stalked," Hidan explained.

"Ah."

Katamaru was perturbed at the lack of response. He had said he was being stalked and no one seemed to care. What was wrong with these people?

"I said I'm being _stalked_," Katamaru repeated, annoyed. "Do you know what that means?"

"You should be used to it by now," Tenko smirked. "Surely you 'rich and famous' guys get stalked all the time."

"I keep my life private."

"Uh-huh."

Hidan shook his head with a slight laugh. It seemed he had wasted his time. Well, at least Hikari was able to see some new things. The baby boy was currently inspecting a butterfly that was flying around his head.

In the end they ended up just taking a walk down the plaza.

That was when everything turned upside down again.

Tenko had stopped to admire some shoes in a shop window when suddenly a girl came running down the plaza towards them. Her stilletos made a clacking sound on the sidewalk and her long blonde hair flowed as she ran.

"I found you!" she cried.

Katamaru had a look of complete despair on his face. "She found me."

Much to Hidan's surprise, many of the people around had looks of despair on their faces to and were slowly evacuating the area. Even Tenko looked uneasy.

"_She's_ the stalker?" Tenko managed.

"You know her?" Hidan asked.

"She's the little sister of a local gang leader."

The blonde girl had finally reached them and grabbed Katamaru. "Hi!"

Katamaru gulped. "H-hi."

"You can't refuse me now, Katamaru-kun."

"…Why?"

"Because."

Suddenly, a group of thugs appeared.

Now the remainder of the people in the plaza started to run away. Katamaru backed up.

Suddenly, Hidan whacked him upside the head. "You said it would be safe to bring Hikari."

Whyever did they always attract thugs?

Tenko growled in frustration. "Look alive boys. This is gonna be rough."

**_A/N: Okie-dokie! So thanks for reading peoples. I'm attempting the crazy stalker girl type with a yakuza twist here. LOL. If you have any ideas don't hesitate to tell me. It's horrible that I got the idea for her appearance and part of her personality from Elizabeth from Kuroshitsuji. Haha! Anyways, thanks for reading everyone! :D _**


	49. Chapter 49

**_I don't own Naruto but I DO own this fanfiction and all the OCs._**

Chapter 49: Connected

In the middle of a once busy plaza, in Tokyo...

Hidan, Katamaru, Tenko and little Hikari were now surrounded by thugs. How they were capable of attracting such odd people, creatures and phenomena no one could figure out. All they knew was that it was annoying. Very annoying.

"Katamaru-kun, are you good at running?" Hidan asked.

"If I need to," Katamaru replied matter-of-factly. "Although I prefer not to."

"Okay then, your job is to take Hikari and run." Hidan handed the unaware baby boy to Katamaru.

"What?" Katamaru glanced between Hikari and Hidan. "But-!"

"Now."

"…Oh fine."

Katamaru took off running calculating in his head how much Hidan owed him.

So that left Tenko and Hidan faced with a pack of thugs and a crazy stalker girl.

"It wouldn't be best to use weapon would it?" Hidan asked reluctantly.

Tenko sighed, taking her hand off a gun she had strapped under her skirt. "No."

"Okay then," Hidan smirked, knocking down a nearby thug in one blow. "Taijutsu it is."

"I have no idea what the heck that means, but if it means kick butt I'm on it!"

Around that time, Yumi was window shopping with Nobuyuki and Genmaru.

"I would love to have that," Yumi said, pointing to a bright, yellow and pink hat in a shop window.

"You want most every cute article of clothing," Genmaru commented.

"Not everything…"

As his friends chatted, Nobuyuki silently snacked on a strawberry crepe.

At that moment a thug came crashing to the pavement two feet from where they were standing.

"Sorry!" Hidan called from the plaza. "Got ourselves into a bit of trouble!"

"Looks like fun," Genmaru grinned. "Let me join in."

Genmaru cheerfully went to pummel people as Nobuyuki and Yumi went back to window shopping as if were another normal day. In a way, it was.

* * *

Sorami was a genuine fujoshi, a female otaku. One of the biggest yaoi and yuri otaku in the area. Even though she was a major fangirl, she knew her anime and manga across the board. She had heard once, in an anime called Durarara! that in big cities like Tokyo everything was connected. A lot of people thought that such superfluous speeches in anime were lot of junk just to lengthen episodes but recently, she had learned to trust anime and manga. She had learned that magic exists, ninjas exists, male pregnancy is possible and that those weird things that happen in The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya aren't so unbelievable. Now, as she stood on the sidewalk of a street in Tokyo she watched as a man, seemingly a thug, came whizzing past on a diner cart.

She decided she wanted to follow it. So she took off after the yelling man.

* * *

About this moment, Kakuzu was headed towards the place he needed to go to complete his "errand". As you may have guessed, his errands aren't entirely legal. Sasori was in tow, at this moment not understanding how he had ended up pushing Inako and Nashiko in a stroller. They were walking over a sturdy, old bridge in the neighborhood.

"Didn't Hidan ask _you_ to baby-sit, Kakuzu?" Sasori asked, displeased.

"But however would I run an errand while pushing a stroller?" Kakuzu smirked.

Sasori rolled his eyes.

Nashiko and Inako didn't seem to care the least bit. They seemed to be entertained by Sasori's displeasure.

That was when they heard an odd noise. It sounded like the rolling of wheels on a sidewalk mixed with a person's fearful voice. Also, they could hear footsteps, quick ones, like a person running. They turned to see what was probably the oddest site a person could process in 5 seconds. There was a man coming down the street on a diner cart, screaming and Sorami was running down the hill after him, her blonde hair blowing in the light breeze.

"Watch ou-!" was all Sorami could manage before the speeding cart crashed into the stroller and sent Nashiko and Inako flying. About that moment, time seemed to stop for a split second of tension and fear and then start again at breakneck speed. Somewhere within those few confusing, tense moments, Kakuzu was able to catch the two baby girls before they fell of the bridge. As everyone else breathed a sigh of relief, the thug rose to his feet, happy to be alive. As he rose, he noticed Kakuzu's wallet in his back pocket.

Nashiko and Inako were unharmed and more angry than scared. Inako was literally fussing at her guardians, cooing and babbling angrily. The thug inched over and attempted to grab Kakuzu's wallet. At this moment, Nashiko decided she would express her displeasure to the man. Little black wings appeared on her back and her nails grew into long claws. She preceded to slash the man across his chest in a rather violent fashion. Sorami, Sasori and Kakuzu stared in awe as Nashiko smiled triumphantly and then went back to normal.

"What just happened?" Sasori asked.

"I have no idea what went on in this past minute," Kakuzu replied.

Sorami stared at the baby girl for a moment and then perked up excitedly. "She's a succubus!"

Sasori and Kakuzu stared at her in silence.

"Well she _did_ just grow long claws and black wings. And she has a thing for the opposite sex. Or was I the only one to notice?"

Before Kakuzu could even answer, Inako started licking the blood splatter off Kakuzu's arm.

"Hmm," Sorami pondered. "I guess she's a vampire."

Kakuzu put the two little girls back in their stroller. "You should push the stroller Sorami-chan."

With this, he turned and began to walk away. He did not want to be involved in whatever the heck was going on. Sasori followed behind him.

Sorami, unphased simply nodded an "okay" and started pushing the stroller.

"You want to have some fun with Sorami-onee-chan?" she smiled at the girls.

The girls just cooed in a way so cute that made them seem as innocent and vulnerable as any other child. Of course, they weren't like other children...

**_A/N: Hi everyone, it's been a while! Thank you for reading. I've been busy so I haven't been able to write much recently. Not to mention, this fic is coming to a close so I'm trying to make these last chapters the best they can be. It takes some thought on where to put what and what to leave out. I guess these last chapters are soughta like bonus chapters? LOL. Thanks again for reading this far! \(^-^) _**


	50. Chapter 50

**_I don't own Naruto but I DO own this fanfiction and all the OCs._**

Chapter 50: Connected, Part 2

A park is supposed to be a pleasant place where kids can play, people can relax and you can experience some of the magic of nature. But today, a devoted maid and a calculating but kind accountant were about to experience yet another unusual phenomenon.

It didn't take Erena and Taemi long to figure out that Kuramaru was an energetic boy. He was only a few months old and yet he was already comprehending things a young child normally wouldn't.

He had managed to catch a grasshopper in his little hands and was examining it's legs. A second later he was on the move again, crawling off to find something else to examine.

"He's always on the move," Erena commented, smiling.

"Sometimes I wonder what goes through that little head of his," Taemi said. "He has the most mischievous looks, sometimes."

About that moment, Kuramaru gave Erena a flower he had picked.

"I doubt it's anything bad," Erena replied. "My Chibi-Bocchan is way to cute to be bad."

Taemi mentally rolled her eyes.

"Are you sure?" a woman's voice asked.

Erena and Taemi turned to see Fuyumi and Izuno standing behind them.

"Oh hi!" Erena greeted. "Are you two on a date?"

Fuyumi and Izuno blushed and then replied in unison, "Most certainly not!"

Of course.

About that moment, something seemed to catch Kuramaru's eye. Meiko was riding her bike up the path. She waved at them. That's when that odd look went past Kuramaru's face again. Suddenly, the trees rustled even though there was no wind blowing and Meiko fell off her bike.

"Are you okay?" Erena hurried over and helped her up.

That was when Fuyumi looked up, and noticed that it was suddenly overcast. She looked to the tree that rustled and noticed a black crow was sitting in it, staring with its piercing eyes. That was odd. That crow hadn't been there before.

Kuramaru giggled happily.

Now a person walking nearby, accidentally walked into a lamppost.

This was when Fuyumi noticed a black cat walking by.

Fuyumi blinked and shook her head. Now she felt suspicious.

"Oh," Taemi said, looking up to the sky. "It looks like it might rain. We should meet up with Hidan-san at the plaza."

The others agreed and they left the park.

On the ways to the plaza, they passed a clean window that was so clean you could see your reflection in it.

"Ooh!" Meiko said, mesmerized by the window. "I can see me!"

Fuyumi tugged on Meiko's arm, laughing. "You're more inquisitive than Kuramaru-chan."

Kuramaru had the mischievous look again.

About this moment, the window shattered. This time, Fuyumi thought she saw a gossamer, midnight-black dog run past. It was like a ghost dog.

Kuramaru giggled again

"There is something wrong with that boy," Fuyumi said.

She began to walk faster.

* * *

Meanwhile, Katamaru was sitting on bench a little ways from the plaza complaining to Suzuki and Hareta, who happened to have been walking by, about having to run without warning. Kuromi and Akako were also there, although they weren't that much involved in the conversation. Kuromi was just having a smoke and Akako was cleaning mud off her boots.

"Don't complain about it," Suzuki rolled her eyes at Katamaru. "It's was _your_ stalker."

"Yeah, you dirty-little-rich boy," Hareta teased.

Suzuki and Hareta high-fived.

At this moment the previously said stalker jumped down from the roof right in front of Katamaru and came at him without a moment's notice. This scared Hikari and suddenly his little hands started to glow a blue-white color. Icy winds shot from his hands, freezing Stalker Girl solid.

"Holy crap, the kid just shot ice!" Akako yelled.

After this, Hikari proceeded to cry.

Before Katamaru could say a word, he felt a hard blow to the head.

"Ouch!" he cried

He looked up to see Hidan standing next to him. With him were Tenko, Genmaru, Yumi, and Nobuyuki.

Hidan took the crying child away from Katamaru and glared at him.

"What did you do to him?" Hidan growled at Katamaru.

"I didn't do anything!" Katamaru replied.

"As if I'd believe that."

Hikari, who had calmed down, proceeded to give Hidan a hug. "M-mama."

Hidan's eyes widened. "Oh my Jashin-sama! He said his first word!"

He heard a sudden eruption of laughter. Apparently, Kakuzu, Sasori and Sorami had just arrived with the girls and Kakuzu was getting a kick out of Hidan being called "mama".

"Shut up Kakuzu," Hidan replied, hugging the little boy. "He just said his first word."

Kakuzu didn't reply with anything but more laughter.

This was when Taemi and Erena arrived with their crew.

"Are you okay, Kakuzu-sama?" Erena asked, confused.

Kakuzu regained his composure. "Yes, I'm fine."

That was probably the first time the maid had ever seen her master lose it.

"Excuse me, but Hikari just shot ice out of his hands!" Katamaru butted in. "He saved me from my stalker."

He pointed to the frozen girl; the ice wasn't even melting yet.

Hidan stopped short. "You're kidding, right?"

Sasori sighed. "Well Hidan's daughters seem to be a vampire and a succubus."

Erena's eyes widened in shock. "So Kakuzu was right about them having magic powers?"

"Seemingly so."

"Well nothing weird happened with Kuramaru today."

Fuyumi shivered and gave a look of slight dread. "Oh yes it did! You just can't sense it, I can. Taemi-chan is right about those mischievous looks. I've been seeing yokai and crows and black cats all over the place today. I even saw a black widow spider. He's got some kind of demonic aura!"

Silence befell the group.

"Chibi-Bocchan has a demonic aura?" Erena broke the silence.

"Wait a moment," Sorami said. "Something isn't right."

She closed her eyes and went into deep thought for a second, searching the depths of her anime and manga knowledge. Then, her aquamarine eyes opened again with a look of confusion.

"This isn't right," she said. "That doesn't match any laws of anime or manga."

"What?" Hareta asked, laughing.

"Because. The bocchan is never the demon!"

Everyone rolled their eyes. Leave it to Sorami to say something so off in the middle of a serious conversation. Although, with the things they were talking about, it took some interesting people to actually take it as a serious conversation.

"Well Hidan, looks like you have some rather odd kids," Kakuzu commented.

"That's fine with me," Hidan grinned. "We're all nothing but odd."

**_A/N: Thanks for reading everyone! :D _**


	51. Epilogue

**_I don't own Naruto but I DO own this fanfiction and all the OCs._**

Chapter 51: Fireflies In the Evening

It was a summer evening. The sun was setting and fireflies glowed as they flitted along. A boombox was playing in a field and a breeze was blowing gently. Everyone had gathered in a field in the neighborhood to dance and have fun. This field wasn't too far from where Hidan, Kakuzu, Sasori and the quadruplets had been staying. Sorami liked to call this place Pokemon Park because it had an elm tree, an oak tree and a birch tree. There was also some ivy growing there. Sorami protested that Pokemon would one day just show up there just like all the other weird phenomena that had happened in the past year had.

"I can't believe we've been here a whole year," Sasori commented. "And tomorrow, we get to go home."

"But we needed a break, am I right?" Hidan grinned.

"Of course."

"I never get a break with you annoying people," Kakuzu said.

Meiko and Sorami came over grabbed Sasori's hand.

"Come dance with us!" Meiko smiled, dragging him.

"Hey, wait-!" Before he could protest, Sasori was dragged off by the girls.

Hikari waved. "Sasowi-san have fun!"

Hidan patted the child on the head.

Kuramaru was showing his little brother a "firefwy", as he called them.

Nashiko and Inako were bouncing to the music.

"What are you doing Kakuzu?" Hidan asked.

Kakuzu was laying on the grass with his eyes closed. "Resting. Or, at least, attempting to."

"Oh shut up. I know you had fun."

"Had fun?"

"Yes. Here in Tokyo."

Kakuzu didn't reply and just ignored Hidan, although he knew that his partner was right, for once.

"I think a lot of good things came outta this weird adventure," Hidan continued, smiling.

"Perhaps," Kakuzu replied.

"Hey!" Tenko called. "Don't act like it's over yet. You still have to come and dance."

"Yeah, I can watch the quadruplets for you," Genmaru volunteered.

Hidan thought for a second. "Okay then."

He grabbed Kakuzu's hand and started to drag him towards the others as Genmaru, Nobuyuki and Yumi brought the quads over to enjoy the music.

Erena grabbed Hidan's hand and Taemi grabbed Kakuzu's.

"You know you're not allowed to forget us, right?" Taemi smiled.

"Yeah," Tenko replied, blushing a bit. "That goes for all of us. Come back and visit someday."

Erena nodded in agreement. Sasori laughed and gave a content smirk.

Kakuzu and Hidan exchanged glances and Hidan grinned. It even seemed, for a second, that Kakuzu did too.

"We couldn't forget if we tried, anyways," Hidan laughed. "This has truly been a year to remember."

_The End_

**_A/N: Thank you for reading it to the end all of you! I hope I didn't disappoint anyone! It's been a blast to write this and to read your reviews. A special thanks to KuroTenshiAkuma, anonymous reviewer Witch-sama, Kakashi Forever and HeavenlyWolfDemon. And the rest of you too. ^-^ I'd love to do a spin off for this fic. Perhaps a sequal? Maybe a rewrite too. Only time will tell. Bye for now everyone~! :D_**


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